Observation on impact of glutamine on nonalcoholic fatty liver disease in rats with acoustic radiation force impulse

Objective To quantitatively assess the impact of glutamine on nonalcoholic fatty liver disease(NFLD)in rats with acoustic radiation force impulse(ARFI).Methods Totally 36SD rats were randomly divided into control group,model group and glutamine treated group(each n=12).The levels of alanine transaminase(ALT),aspartate aminotransferase(AST),triglyceride(TG)and total cholesterol(TC)in serum were measured,of glutathiose(GSH),tumor necrosis factor-α(TNF-α)and malonaldehyde(MDA)in the liver were detected.Histopathologic changes of the liver were observed under microscopy.The shear wave velocity(SWV)in different regions of the liver was obtained in ARFI.All above indexes were compared among 3groups.Results The levels of ALT,AST,TG,TC,TNF-αand MDA in model group were significantly higher and GSH was lower than those in control group(all P0.05),which were all significantly improved by glutamine(all P0.05)on the 12th week after establishment of models.SWVs of anterior and middle region of liver in model group significantly increased than those in control group(both P0.05),which obviously decreased after glutamine administration(both P0.05)on the 8th and 12th week.Conclusion Glutamine has certain therapeutic effect on NAFLD in rats,which can be observed quantitatively with ARFI.