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Curcumin Recovers Intracellular Lipid Droplet Formation Through Increasing Perilipin 5 Gene Expression in Activated Hepatic Stellate Cells In Vitro

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Summary

The activation of hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) is a major event during hepatic fibrogenesis. Restoration of intracellular lipid droplet (LD) formation turns the activated HSC back to a quiescent state. Our previous studies have shown that curcumin suppresses HSC activation through increasing peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor, gamma (PPARγ) and 5′ adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK) activities. This study aims at evaluating the effect of curcumin on lipid accumulation in HSCs and hepatocytes, and further elucidating the underlying mechanisms. Now we showed that curcumin increased LD formation in activated HSCs and stimulated the expression of sterol regulatory element-binding protein and fatty acid synthase, and reduced the expression of adipose triglyceride lipase. Exogenous perilin5 expression in primary HSCs promoted LD formation. Perilipin 5 siRNA eliminated curcumin-induced LD formation in HSCs. These results suggest that curcumin recovers LD formation and lipid accumulation in activated HSCs by increasing perilipin 5 gene expression. Furthermore, inhibition of AMPK or PPARγ activity blocked curcumin’s effect on Plin5 gene expression and LD formation. Our results provide a novel evidence in vitro for curcumin as a safe, effective candidate to treat liver fibrosis.

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Author notes

  1. The authors contributed equally to this study.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Medical College of Yichun University, Yichun, 336000, China

    Xiao-qun Han

  2. Department of Pediatrics, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430030, China

    San-qing Xu

  3. P3 Biosafety Laboratory, Guangdong Second Provincial General Hospital, Guangzhou, 510317, China

    Jian-guo Lin

  4. Affiliated Nanyue Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, 510317, China

    Jian-guo Lin

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  1. Xiao-qun Han
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Correspondence to Jian-guo Lin.

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Conflict of Interest Statement

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest with any financial organization or corporation or individual that can inappropriately influence this work.

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 81760356) to Dr. Xiao-qun HAN and Talent Initial Funding (No. YY2017-002) sponsored by Guangdong Second Provincial General Hospital to Jian-guo LIN, and sponsored by Medical Scientific and Technological Research Program of Guangdong Province (No. C2019056) to Jian-guo LIN.

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Han, Xq., Xu, Sq. & Lin, Jg. Curcumin Recovers Intracellular Lipid Droplet Formation Through Increasing Perilipin 5 Gene Expression in Activated Hepatic Stellate Cells In Vitro. CURR MED SCI 39, 766–777 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11596-019-2104-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11596-019-2104-5

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