Background: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the
most common chronic liver disease worldwide. Mirabegron is a
novel, once-daily orally active, first-in-class, potent β3-
adrenoreceptor (AR) agonist. Aim of the study: This work aimed at
exploring the possible prophylactic effect of mirabegron on nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) induced experimentally by high
fat diet in rats. Material and methods: Rats were divided into 5
groups: normal group serving as a control group, Mirabegron group,
Untreated NASH group (received a high fat diet for 12 weeks), Low
dose mirabegron pre-treated NASH group (treated with mirabegron
5 mg/kg/day orally for 12 weeks) and High dose mirabegron pretreated NASH group (treated with mirabegron 10 mg/kg/day orally
for 12 weeks). Results: Mirabegron produced significant reduction
of liver enzymes, total cholesterol, triglycerides and Low-density
lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-c) and significant elevation of highdensity lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-c),the serum level of
glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c), fasting glucose and insulin
levels were significantly decreased with significant improvement of
insulin sensitivity observed by lowering of insulin resistance index
(HOMA-IR), serum adiponectin level also showed significant
elevation. These results were supported by marked improvement of
liver histopathology compared to non-treated group, with the best
results obtained by using the high dose of mirabegron.
Conclusions: These data suggest that mirabegron may have a
potential usefulness in the prevention of NASH as regard to liver
enzymes, lipid profile, serum HbA1c, fasting insulin and blood
glucose, insulin resistance index, and serum adiponectin levels with
improvement of liver histopathological changes. |
