Western diet-like culture conditions and oxidative stress on a cell model of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease
Abstract
Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a major health burden in the Western world, as the Western diet (WD) appears to be the driving force of this disease. However, the individual contributions of the diet and the impacts of their individual metabolism are currently ill-defined. This study used HepG2 cells to understand the impact of the individual components of WD in early NAFLD development under basal insulin levels. Specifically, nutrient-induced changes in reactive oxygen species (ROS) and signaling pathways, such as sterol regulatory element binding proteins (SREBPs), were examined to identify the root cause of steatosis development. High-fat and WD-exposed cells were associated with triglyceride and lipid droplet accumulation, paired with changes in SREBPs and lipid processing genes. These cells displayed hallmarks of lipotoxicity, such as decreased cell number and increased ROS. Together, this work unravels the maladaptive phenotypes associated with WD consumption, as these events may be critical in the onset of NAFLD pathogenesis.