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Nicotinamide protects hepatocytes from palmitate-induced cell death

06/19/2019 // Michelle Simmons // Views

Tags: alternative medicine, anti-lipotoxic, autophagy, dietary supplement, disease treatments, fatty liver, goodfood, goodhealth, goodmedicine, goodscience, hepatocytes, liver disease, liver health, NAFLD, natural cures, natural medicine, niacin, nicotinamide, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, nutrients, palmitate, prevention, research, supplements, vitamin B3

Researchers from the University of Illinois at Chicago, Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, and Harbin Medical University in China examined the anti-lipotoxic effect of nicotinamide. The results of their study were published in the journal Nutrition Research.

• Lipotoxicity induced by saturated fatty acids contributes to the development of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD); however, the exact mechanism behind this remains unclear.
• Palmitate is the most abundant saturated fatty acid in the circulation and a major lipotoxic inducer.
• Research suggests that autophagy induction is protective against palmitate-induced cell death in a variety of cell types, including hepatocytes.
• The researchers previously reported that nicotinamide, which is the amide form of vitamin B3 and a dietary supplement, can give hepatocytes resistance against palmitate-induced endoplasmic reticulum stress.
• In this study, they found that nicotinamide supplementation protected hepatocytes against palmitate-induced cell death by activating autophagy in hepatocytes.
• They also discovered that autophagy induction is responsible for nicotinamide's anti-lipotoxic effect.
• Furthermore, their study demonstrated that the inhibition of sirtuin 1 (SIRT1) weakened autophagy induction in response to nicotinamide supplementation and repealed the anti-lipotoxic effect conferred by nicotinamide supplementation.
• Their findings suggested that nicotinamide can protect against palmitate-induced liver toxicity via SIRT1-dependent autophagy induction.

Based on these results, the researchers concluded that nicotinamide supplementation represents a therapeutic choice for NAFLD.

For more studies on natural treatments for liver diseases, visit AlternativeMedicine.news.

Journal Reference:

Shen C, Dou X, Ma Y, Ma W, Li S, Song Z. NICOTINAMIDE PROTECTS HEPATOCYTES AGAINST PALMITATE-INDUCED LIPOTOXICITY VIA SIRT1-DEPENDENT AUTOPHAGY INDUCTION. Nutrition Research. April 2017;40:40-47. DOI: 10.1016/j.nutres.2017.03.005

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