Impact of Dietary Fat on the Progression of Liver Fibrosis: Lessons from Animal and Cell Studies

Previous studies have revealed that a high-fat diet is one of the key contributors to the progression of liver fibrosis, and increasing studies are devoted to analyzing the different influences of diverse fat sources on the progression of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis. When we treated three types of isocaloric diets that are rich in cholesterol, saturated fatty acid (SFA) and trans fatty acid (TFA) with hepatitis C virus core gene transgenic mice that spontaneously developed hepatic steatosis without apparent fibrosis, TFA and cholesterol-rich diet, but not SFA-rich diet, displayed distinct hepatic fibrosis. This review summarizes the recent advances in animal and cell studies regarding the effects of these three types of fat on liver fibrogenesis.

Automated summary

Previous studies have shown that a high-fat diet contributes to liver fibrosis progression, and recent research focuses on the effects of different fat sources on non-alcoholic steatohepatitis. Specifically, trans fatty acid (TFA) and cholesterol-rich diets, but not saturated fatty acid (SFA) diets, have been found to significantly contribute to hepatic fibrosis in animal models.