Role of Melatonin, Glutamine and L-arginine in Prevention of Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease in Rats

Over the next years, non alcoholic fatty liver disease will represent the main cause of chronic liver disease with the reduction of hepatitis C burden. Recent researches are directed towards prevention. Prevention of NAFLD can be achieved by attenuation of oxidative stress. The aim of this work is to study the possible role of melatonin, glutamine and L-arginine in prevention of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in rats induced by high fat, and high carbohydrate diet. The study included control, NAFLD, melatonin, glutamine and arginine groups. For all groups we have measured the serum concentration of glucose, lipid profile, liver enzymes, the concentration of glutathione (GSH) and malonyl aldehyde (MDA) in liver tissues. Then we performed histopathological study of liver tissue . there was significant increase in blood glucose level, triglycerides, Cholesterol and LDL in NAFLD, significant increase in liver enzymes (AST, ALT) and MDA, and significant decrease in GSH in NAFLD group as compared with control group. The use of melatonin, glutamine and L-arginine improved all the parameters as compared with NAFLD group. By histopathological study, marked improvement with slight fatty infiltration and near normal hepatocytes in melatonin group, moderate improvement with mild steatosis in glutamine group while mild improvement with L-arginine group. From this work we can conclude that: Early intervention with melatonin, glutamine or L-arginine has a protective effect in NAFLD. Key words: NAFLD, melatonin, L-arginine, glutamine, oxidative stress – glucose – lipid profile.