Pharmacology, Toxicology and Environmental Health Commons^™

Bromelain Activates The Amp-Activated Protein Kinase-Autophagy Pathway To Alleviate Hepatic Lipid Accumulation, Po-An Hu, Man-Chen Hsu, Szu-Han Chen, Chia-Hui Chen, Yu Ru Kou, Jenq-Wen Huang, Tzong-Shyuan Lee

Journal of Food and Drug Analysis

Bromelain, a cysteine protease found in pineapple, is known to exert protective effects against non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD); however, the underlying mechanism is unclear. In this study, we aimed to investigate the molecular mechanisms underlying the beneficial effects of bromelain using in vivo and in vitro models. C57BL/6 mice were fed a high-fat diet (HFD) with or without bromelain (20 mg/kg/day) for 12 weeks. We found that treatment with bromelain alleviated hepatic lipid accumulation accompanied by the activation of AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) and autophagy flux, as evidenced by the elevated levels of phosphorylated AMPK, ATG5, ATG7, LC3-II, and …