Abstract: Objective This experiment aimed to investigate mechanism by which Qiyin granules (QY), a herbal medicine, improve hepatic lipid metabolism in high-fat diet (HFD)–induced metabolic-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD). Methods 60 C57BL/6J mice were randomly divided into control, model, pioglitazone /metformin-intervened, low, medium and high-dose Qiyin granules-intervened group, with 10 in each. Model was establish by HFD feeding, and interventions began at seven weeks for six weeks. Liver histopathological study was routinely conducted, and hepatic SIRT1/LXRα signaling pathway genes and their proteins were detected by Western blotting and qRT-PCR, respectively. Results Serum and hepatic triglycerides and total cholesterol levels in model group increased greatly as compared to in the control(P<0.05), while they decreased obviously in pioglitazone /metformin-intervened, and low, medium and high-dose Qiyin granules-intervened group(P<0.05);hepatic SIRT1 protein in pioglitazone /metformin-intervened, and low, medium and high-dose Qiyin granules-intervened group upregulated(P<0.05),while hepatic LXRα, SREBP-1c and FASN protein expression down-regulated greatly as compared to in the model (P<0.05); hepatic SIRT1 mRNA levels in pioglitazone /metformin-intervened, and low, medium and high-dose Qiyin granules-intervened group increased in a dose-dependent manner(P<0.05),while hepatic LXRα, SREBP-1c and FASN mRNA levels decreased obviously (P<0.05), as compared to in the model. Conclusions Qiyin granules could ameliorate HFD-induced MAFLD, maybe via modulating the SIRT1/LXRα signaling pathway, which might suppress de novo lipogenesis and attenuate inflammation.

Key words: Metabolic-associated fatty liver disease, Qiyin granules, a herbal medicine, SIRT1, LXRα, Mice