Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is characterized by diffused hepatocyte bullous fat in the liver, which is not caused by alcohol or drugs like amiodarone and tamoxifen. Presently, no drug is approved for NAFLD treatment. Therefore, it’s important to extract effective components from natural plants to alleviate NAFLD. In this study, we extracted and purified raspberry ketone, a natural phenolic compound from red raspberry (Rubus ideaus L.) by an ultrasonic-assisted ethanol extraction method. The structure of red raspberry ketone (RRK) was determined using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy and the purity of RRK was found as 80.06 ± 1.19%. After 28 days of intragastric administration of RRK, the bodyweight of NAFLD model rats decreased significantly (p < 0.05). Besides, the levels of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, total cholesterol, and total triglyceride (TG) decreased and the content of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol in serum increased drastically. Moreover, the level of liver damage indicators (aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase, and alkaline phosphatase) and the levels of glucose, insulin, free-fatty acid, tumor necrotic factor-α in the liver decreased distinctly. The levels of TG and malondialdehyde in the liver decreased, whereas the levels of superoxide dismutase, total glutathione, and glutathione peroxidase drastically increased. We also found that RRK reduced the uneven size of liver cells and blurred boundaries of hepatic lobules, and alleviated hepatic steatosis and inflammation caused by NAFLD. We inferred that RRK could relieve NAFLD progression by regulating glucose and lipid metabolism and alleviating oxidative stress in vivo. This study sheds new light on the use of RRK as a functional food for NAFLD prevention.

中文翻译：

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红树莓中树莓酮的提取及其对非酒精性脂肪肝的干预

非酒精性脂肪性肝病 (NAFLD) 的特征是肝脏中弥漫性肝细胞大疱​​性脂肪，这不是由酒精或胺碘酮和他莫昔芬等药物引起的。目前，没有药物被批准用于 NAFLD 治疗。因此，从天然植物中提取有效成分对缓解NAFLD具有重要意义。在这项研究中，我们通过超声辅助乙醇提取法从红树莓 (Rubus ideaus L.) 中提取和纯化树莓酮，这是一种天然酚类化合物。红树莓酮 (RRK) 的结构使用傅里叶变换红外光谱法确定，RRK 的纯度为 80.06 ± 1.19%。RRK灌胃28天后，NAFLD模型大鼠体重明显下降（p < 0.05）。此外，低密度脂蛋白胆固醇水平，总胆固醇、总甘油三酯（TG）降低，血清中高密度脂蛋白胆固醇含量急剧升高。此外，肝损伤指标（谷草转氨酶、谷丙转氨酶、碱性磷酸酶）水平和肝内葡萄糖、胰岛素、游离脂肪酸、肿瘤坏死因子-α水平明显下降。肝脏中甘油三酯和丙二醛的水平下降，而超氧化物歧化酶、总谷胱甘肽和谷胱甘肽过氧化物酶的水平急剧上升。我们还发现 RRK 减少了肝细胞大小不均和肝小叶边界模糊，减轻了 NAFLD 引起的肝脂肪变性和炎症。我们推断 RRK 可以通过调节糖脂代谢和减轻体内氧化应激来缓解 NAFLD 进展。这项研究为将 RRK 作为功能性食品用于预防 NAFLD 提供了新的思路。