Dietary phosphatidylinositol prevents the development of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease in Zucker (fa/fa) rats

Recent studies have shown that dietary phospholipids, especially phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylserine, have various beneficial biological effects. However, there are not enough data concerning the physiological function of dietary phosphatidylinositol (PI). The metabolic syndrome, a cluster of metabolic abnormalities such as dyslipidemia, diabetes mellitus, and hypertension, is a widespread and increasingly prevalent disease in industrialized countries. Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is often associated with features of the metabolic syndrome. NAFLD describes the spectrum of liver damage ranging from hepatic steatosis to steatohepatitis, liver fibrosis, and cirrhosis, and it is emerging as the most common liver disease worldwide. The present study examined whether dietary PI protects Zucker (fa/fa) rats from the metabolic syndrome. For 4 weeks, rats were fed semisynthetic diets containing either 7% soybean oil or 5% soybean oil plus 2% PI. Dietary PI markedly prevented the development of hepatomegaly and hepatic steatosis and lowered hepatic injury markers in serum. Additionally, hyperinsulinemia was relieved by the feeding of dietary PI in Zucker rats. These effects were attributable to an increase in serum adiponectin, enhancement of fatty acid β-oxidation, and suppression of mRNA expression of inflammatory genes in the liver. This is the first report that dietary PI increases serum adiponectin level and prevents the development of NAFLD in a rat model of the metabolic syndrome.