Aerobic exercise improves non-alcoholic fatty liver disease by down-regulating the protein expression of the CNPY2-PERK pathway

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is highly prevalent, and physical exercise represents one of the most effective methods to attenuate NAFLD. However, the mechanism of aerobic exercise improving NAFLD remains unclear. This study aims to investigate the effect of aerobic exercise on CNPY2-PERK pathway in mice with NAFLD. Our study found that a high-fat diet induced NAFLD, causing an abnormal lipid metabolism and liver function injury, and increased the expressions of CNPY2, CNPY2 mRNA, PERK, PERK mRNA, p-eIF2a and CHOP. However, aerobic exercise reversesd all these parameters. These data suggest that CNPY2-PERK pathway is involved in the formation of NAFLD, and aerobic exercise can effectively improve NAFLD, which may be related to down-regulate the protein expressions of the CNPY2-PERK pathway.