Cordycepin (CRD), an adenosine analog derived from traditional Chinese medicine, is an active component in Cordyceps militaris. It has been shown to have many protective effects during liver injury and ameliorate liver disease progression, but little is known about its effect on non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). This study aims to explore the effects of CRD on obesity-induced NAFLD.

In this experiment, C57BL/6 J mice were randomly assigned into normal control group (NC), high fat diet group (HFD) and HFD + CRD group for 8 weeks. The body weights were recorded weekly, at the end of the experiments, the liver and serum samples were collected. We found that CRD administration reduced body weight and decreased the weight of adipose and liver, and CRD relieved liver injure through diminishing of histopathological changes and decreasing serum levels of AST, ALT, TG, TC, LDL-C and increased the level of HDL-C. Furthermore, treatment with CRD significantly alleviated expression of inflammatory factors (TNF-α, IL-6 and Il-1β) and macrophage markers (MCP1, MIP2, mKC and VCAM1). On the other hand, compared with HFD group, the CRD treated group markedly down-regulated relative proteins of lipid anabolism (SREBP1-c, ACC, SCD-1, LXRα and CD36) and up-regulated relative proteins of β-oxidation (p-AMPK, AMPK, CPT-1 and PPARα).

In summary, our results suggest that CRD can be a potential therapeutic agent in the prevention and treatment of NAFLD, which may be closely related to its effect on lipid metabolism and inflammatory responses.

虫草素（CRD）是源自中药的腺苷类似物，是is虫草中的活性成分。它已显示出在肝损伤期间具有许多保护作用，并改善了肝病的进展，但对其对非酒精性脂肪肝病（NAFLD）的作用知之甚少。这项研究旨在探讨CRD对肥胖引起的NAFLD的影响。

在本实验中，将C57BL / 6 J小鼠随机分为正常对照组（NC），高脂饮食组（HFD）和HFD + CRD组，持续8周。每周记录体重，在实验结束时，收集肝脏和血清样品。我们发现CRD给药可减轻组织病理学变化并降低血清AST，ALT，TG，TC，LDL-C的含量并增加HDL- C。此外，用CRD治疗显着减轻了炎症因子（TNF-α，IL-6和II-1β）和巨噬细胞标志物（MCP1，MIP2，mKC和VCAM1）的表达。另一方面，与HFD组相比，CRD治疗组的脂质合成代谢相关蛋白（SREBP1-c，ACC，SCD-1，

总而言之，我们的结果表明CRD可能是预防和治疗NAFLD的潜在治疗剂，这可能与其对脂质代谢和炎症反应的作用密切相关。