Abstract: Objective To investigate the inhibitory effect of salidroside on cytochrome P4502E1 （CYP2E1） protein expression in primary-cultured rat hepatocytes with steatosis. Methods The hepatocytes of SD rats were separated and primary-cultured for 48 h. Hepatocytes were then exposed to 0.25 mmol/L palmitic acid incubation for 24 h in the presence or absence of 150 μg/ml salidroside. ALT,AST and malonaldehyde （MDA） in the culture supernatants and triglyceride （TG） contents in the hepatocytes were tested. Lipid accumulation was estimated by oil red-O staining. CYP2E1 protein expression in the hepatocytes was examined by Western blot. Results When compared to palmitic acid group,salidroside decreased ALT[（13.5±1.2） U/L vs.（11.3±1.0） U/L,P<0.05],AST [（5.9±0.7） U/L vs. （3.7±0.5） U/L,P<0.05],MDA[（4.2±0.9） nmol/ml vs. （1.7±0.2） nmol/ml,P<0.01] in the supernatants and TG content in the hepatocytes [（268.3±25.8） μg/mg protein vs. （105.7±16.8） μg/mg protein,P<0.01] induced by palmitic acid;Salidroside attenuated severe accumulation of fat drops in the hepatocytes, and suppressed CYP2E1 protein expression up-regulation in hepatocytes with steatosis. Conclusions Salidroside prevents hepatocyte steatosis via suppression of CYP2E.

Key words: Steatosis, Salidroside, Cytochrome P4502E1, Hepatocytes, Oxidative stress