Research progress of Yinchenhao Decoction in the treatment of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease(NAFLD)is one of the most common chronic liver diseases worldwide.Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis(NASH)is the most serious type and a turning point in the progression of NAFLD.If not treated actively,NASH will progress to irreversible liver damage such as cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma.At present,there are no specific therapeutic drugs in western medicine.The treatment methods are mainly to improve lifestyle and exercise therapy,to alleviate the symptoms of discomfort,delay the progress of the disease,and improve the quality of life.However,the effect is often not ideal,prone to recurrence,and compliance is relatively poor.Dramatically,traditional Chinese medicine has certain advantages in the treatment of NAFLD.Modern research has confirmed that Yinchenhao Decoction has a good effect on liver-protective and choleretic action and improving liver function.It has significant curative effect on various liver and gallbladder diseases such as acute liver injury and alcoholic liver disease.This article summarized the clinical and basic research of Yinchenhao Decoction in the treatment of NAFLD.We found that Yinchenhao Decoction can enhance the efficiency of NAFLD and improve symptoms such as dizziness,liver pain,hepatosplenomegaly and indigestion.The mechanisms may be related to that Yinchenhao decoction improves the disorder of glucose and lipid metabolism,inflammatory state and liver function.

Cellular and Molecular Basis of Leptin Resistance in Obese Patients

Obesity is a major risk factor for diabetes,cardiovascular disease,and certain cancers.It arises from a chronic positive energy balance.This is usually due to unrestricted access to food in the context of genetic and epigenetic vulnerabilities.And an increasingly sedentary lifestyle.Over the past few decades,our understanding of the fluid and nervous systems that mediate energy balance control has greatly improved.However,our ability to formulate effective strategies to slow the current obesity epidemic has been hampered,mainly because we have limited knowledge of the resistance mechanisms of metabolic hormones such as leptin.Resistance to leptin is a sign of obesity,leptin is a key hormone for neuroendocrine control of energy balance.In the past few years,we have made tremendous progress in our in-depth research on the cellular pathways that disrupt the action of leptin.In this review,we discuss the molecular mechanisms of leptin resistance and how to use them as targets for obesity drug therapy.

Leptin and Maintaining Weight Gain

In today's society,obesity is the single most important risk factor for early disability and death,and the incidence of obesity is still at an alarming level.The central nervous system regulates energy intake and consumption in response to changes in the body's energy storage,thereby maintaining the body's continued obesity;fat cell-derived hormone leptin and its receptor(LEPR)are the key regulators of these systems.As in the case of insulin resistance,various mechanisms have been proposed(including feedback inhibition,inflammation,glial hyperplasia,and endoplasmic reticulum stress)to interfere with the action of leptin,hindering the system that controls the body's energy balance to promote or maintain obesity,although these are not clear.However,in ordinary obese patients,the LEPR signal may be increased(rather than impaired),indicating that any obesity-related defects in leptin action must be caused by lesions other than the original LEPR signal.