Choline and betaine ameliorate liver lipid accumulation induced by vitamin B6 deficiency in rats

Offspring NAFLD liver phospholipid profiles are differentially programmed by maternal high-fat diet and maternal one carbon supplement

Little is known if and how maternal diet affects the liver phospholipid profiles that contribute to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) development in offspring. We examined NAFLD phenotypes in male offspring mice of either maternal normal-fat diet (NF group), maternal high-fat diet (HF group), maternal methionine supplement (H1S group), or complete one-carbon supplement (H2S group) added to the maternal HF diet during gestation and lactation. HF offspring displayed worsened NAFLD phenotypes induced by post-weaning HF diet, however, maternal one-carbon supplement prevented such outcome. HF offspring also showed a distinct phospholipid profile from the offspring exposed to H1S or H2S diet. Whole genome bisulfite sequencing (WGBS) analysis further identified five pathways involved in phospholipid metabolism altered by different maternal diet interventions. Furthermore, differential methylated regions (DMRs) on Prkca, Dgkh, Plcb1 and Dgki were identified comparing between HF and NF offspring; most of these DMRs were recovered in H2S offspring. These methylation pattern changes were associated with gene expression changes: HF diet significantly reduced while H1S and H2S diet recovered their levels. Maternal HF diet disrupted offspring phospholipid profiles contributing to worsened hepatic steatosis. The maternal one-carbon supplement prevented such effects, probably through DNA methylation modification.

Preventive and therapeutic role of betaine in liver disease: A review on molecular mechanisms

Betaine is a kind of water-soluble quaternary amine-type alkaloid widely existing in food, such as wheat germ, beet, spinach, shrimp and wolfberry. As an important methyl donor and osmotic pressure regulator in human body, betaine plays an important role in a variety of physiological activities. In recent years, a large number of literatures have shown that betaine has good preventive and therapeutic effects on many liver diseases, including chemical or drug-induced liver injury, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, alcoholic fatty liver disease, liver fibrosis, hepatitis B and hepatitis C. Therefore, by searching the databases of Web of Science, PubMed, SciFinder and CNKI, this paper has summarized the molecular mechanisms of betaine in improving liver diseases. The results show that the improvement of liver diseases by betaine is closely related to a variety of molecular mechanisms, including inhibition of inflammatory response, improvement of insulin resistance, reduction of endoplasmic reticulum stress, alleviation of liver oxidative stress, increase of autophagy, remodeling of intestinal flora and regulation of epigenetic modification. More importantly, nuclear transcription factor kappa (NF-κB), AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK), peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor α/γ (PPAR-α/γ), liver X receptor α (LXRα), protein kinase B (Akt), toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) and cysteinyl aspartate specific proteinase-3 (Caspase-3) signaling pathways are considered as important molecular targets for betaine to improve liver diseases. These important findings will provide a direction and basis for further exploring the pathogenesis of various liver diseases and tapping the potential of betaine in the clinical treatment.

Effects of Dietary Vitamin B6 Restriction on Hepatic Gene Expression Profile of Non-Obese and Obese Mice

Although vitamin B6 is contained in various foods, its deficiency is one of the most common micronutrient deficiencies worldwide. Furthermore, patients with obesity and cardiovascular disease are more likely to have suboptimal vitamin B6 status than healthy people. Therefore, we investigated the effects of dietary vitamin B6 restriction on hepatic gene expression and function in obese mice. C57BL/6J male mice were fed a low-fat (LF) or high-fat (HF) diet in combination with sufficient (7 mg pyridoxine/kg diet) or insufficient (1 mg) amounts of vitamin B6 for 16 weeks. Analysis of microarray data revealed that expressions of 4000 genes were significantly altered by the experimental diets (LF7, LF1, HF7, and HF1). The effects of dietary fat content on gene expressions were markedly greater than vitamin B6 content. Only three differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were overlapped between the LF1/LF7 and HF1/HF7 comparison. In the LF1/LF7 comparison, 54 upregulated DEGs were enriched in gene ontology (GO) terms associated with the sterol metabolic process and 54 downregulated DEGs were enriched in GO terms associated with immune response. In HF1/HF7 comparison, 26 upregulated DEGs were enriched in GO terms associated with amino acid catabolic process. High-fat consumption downregulated gene expressions associated with vitamin B6-dependent pathways. In conclusion, our data suggest that obesity may differentially regulate vitamin B6-associated metabolic pathways in the body.

Dietary choline, rather than betaine intake, is associated with hepatocellular carcinoma mortality

The dietary intakes of choline and betaine have been related to the mortality of some neoplasms, but their effects on hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) mortality are still unknown. We examined the associations between dietary choline, five choline-containing compounds, different choline forms, betaine intake and HCC mortality. In total, 905 newly diagnosed HCC patients were enrolled in the Guangdong Liver Cancer Cohort study. Dietary intake was assessed by a valid food frequency questionnaire. Liver cancer-specific mortality (LCSM) and all-cause mortality (ACM) were calculated. Hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were computed by Cox proportional hazards models. It was found that a higher total choline intake was associated with lower ACM, Q4 vs. Q1: HR = 0.72, 95% CI: 0.53-0.97, Ptrend = 0.012 in the fully adjusted model. The associations between total choline intake and LCSM were not significant. Similar associations were found between water-soluble choline intake and HCC mortality, where the fully adjusted HR for ACM was 0.72, 95% CI: 0.53-0.98, Ptrend = 0.017. However, null associations were found between neither phosphatidylcholine (the most abundant lipid-soluble choline) nor total lipid-soluble choline intake and HCC mortality. These results implied that the favorable associations between the total choline intake and ACM were more attributed to water-soluble choline. Furthermore, no significant associations were observed between betaine intake and HCC mortality. Future human intervention trials regarding choline supplementation and liver disease recovery should take the forms into consideration rather than just the total amount alone.

High-throughput serum metabolomics analysis of gouty arthritis rat treated by total saponins of Rhizoma Dioscoreae Makino by UPLC-Q/TOF-MS

Rhizoma Dioscoreae Makino (RDM) is effective in treating gouty arthritis (GA) and hyperuricacidemia, especially in promoting uric acid excretion and reducing the inflammatory reaction. Bioactive constituents in RDM are mainly steroidal saponins such as dioscin, trillin, protodioscin and protogracillin. However, the mechanism of its anti-GA action is still unclear, owing to the complex pathological and physiological characteristics of GA, and integration of RDM with multiple components, multiple targets and multiple pathways. Herein, a GA rat model was induced with monosodium urate (MSU), and RDM reduced inflammation of rat synovium tissue. Through metabolomics analysis, 35 potential biomarkers with significant changes involved in the pathogenesis of GA induced by MSU were identified, and perturbations were restored after RDM treatment. The most correlated pathways involved in d-galactose, d-mannose, d-glucose, myoinositol, Phosphatidylcholine (PC) (16:0/16:0), LysoPC (15:0), phosphatidic acid (PA) [18:1(9Z)/18:1(11Z)] and glutathione induced by MSU were galactose metabolism, inositol phosphate metabolism, glycerophospholipid metabolism and glutathione metabolism, and the derivations of all those biomarkers could be regulated by RDM treatment. RDM has a therapeutic effect on GA by intervening in changes in endogenous metabolisms and the related metabolic pathways.

Serum choline is associated with hepatocellular carcinoma survival: a prospective cohort study

BACKGROUND

Higher choline and betaine levels have been linked to lower risk of liver cancer, whereas existing data in relation to hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) prognosis are scarce. Our objective was to examine the associations of the serum choline and betaine with HCC survival.

METHODS

866 newly diagnosed HCC patients were enrolled in the Guangdong Liver Cancer Cohort. Serum choline and betaine were assessed using high-performance liquid chromatography with online electro-spray ionization tandem mass spectrometry. Liver cancer-specific survival (LCSS) and overall survival (OS) were calculated. Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate the hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs).

RESULTS

Serum choline levels were associated with better LCSS (T3 vs. T1: HR = 0.69, 95% CI: 0.51-0.94; P -trend < 0.05) and OS (T3 vs. T1: HR = 0.73, 95% CI: 0.54-0.99; P -trend < 0.05). The associations were significantly modified by C-reactive protein (CRP) levels but not by other selected prognostic factors including sex, age, etc. The favorable associations between serum choline and LCSS and OS were only existed among patients with CRP ≥3.0 mg/L. No significant associations were found between serum betaine levels and either LCSS or OS.

CONCLUSIONS

This study revealed that higher serum choline levels were associated with better HCC survival, especially in HCC patients with systemic inflammation status. No significant associations were found between serum betaine and HCC survival. Our findings suggest the benefits of choline on HCC survival.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

The Guangdong Liver Cancer Cohort was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT03297255.

Accumulation of Liver Lipids Induced by Vitamin B6 Deficiency Was Effectively Ameliorated by Choline and, to a Lesser Extent, Betaine

Despite previous studies suggesting that choline and betaine ameliorate lipid accumulation in rat livers, the relative effectiveness of the two nutrients is unclear. We examined the efficacy of dietary supplementation with choline or betaine in ameliorating lipid accumulation induced by vitamin B₆ (B₆) deficiency in the rat liver. Male Wistar rats were fed control, B₆-deficient, choline-supplemented B₆-deficient, betaine-supplemented B₆-deficient, or both choline and betaine-supplemented B₆-deficient diets (all containing 9 g of l-methionine (Met)/kg) for 35 d. Two experiments were performed, i.e., one using 17 mmol/kg diet choline bitartrate, betaine anhydrous, and the combination and another using 8.5 mmol/kg diet. Rats fed a B₆-deficient diet developed lipid accumulation in the liver with a reduction of plasma lipids induced by the disruption of Met metabolism. However, the addition of 17 mmol/kg diet choline or betaine was sufficient to ameliorate the disruptions of lipid and Met metabolism. Additionally, 8.5 mmol/kg diet choline ameliorated liver lipid deposition, while the same amount of betaine had no significant effects on liver or plasma lipid profiles. Supplementation with choline resulted in a higher liver betaine than that found using the same amount of betaine alone, although the overall liver betaine content was reduced in B₆-deficient rats. Our findings indicate that choline is more effective than betaine in ameliorating B₆ deficiency-related disruptions in Met metabolism and liver lipid accumulation by increasing liver betaine levels.

Betaine and Choline Improve Lipid Homeostasis in Obesity by Participation in Mitochondrial Oxidative Demethylation

We investigated the metabolic effects of betaine (Bet) supplementation on CTP:phosphoethanolamine cytidylyltransferase/Pcyt2 heterozygous mice (HET). HET received either no treatment or were allowed access to 1% Bet supplemented water for 8 weeks. As we previously showed with choline (Cho), Bet improved hypertriglyceridemia, and hepatic steatosis in HET. The protection from obesity associated with reduced hepatic steatosis and increased lipid breakdown in adipocytes was attributed to increased energy requirements for metabolism and elimination of supplemented Bet and Cho. ¹H-NMR-based profiling revealed metabolic changes caused by Bet and Cho supplementation. Cho increased the citric acid cycle intermediate succinic acid while reducing isoleucine, valine, threonine, and lysine. Bet increased α-ketoglutaric acid and did not stimulate catabolism of amino acids. Increased histidine and alanine are specific biomarkers for Bet treatment. Cho and Bet caused glycerol accumulation and reduced sarcosine, taurine, acetate, and β-hydroxybutyrate levels. These data provide new insights on how Cho and Bet supplementation can aid in treatment of obesity related disorders due to their positive effects on lipolysis, the citric acid cycle, and mitochondrial oxidative demethylation.