Exposure to
polybrominated diphenyl ethers (
PBDEs), is closely associated with the occurrence of
obesity and
non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (
NAFLD), yet their pathological effects and underlying mechanisms remain unclear. To examine the role of 2, 2', 4, 4'-tetrabromodiphenyl
ether (BDE-47) in the progression of
NAFLD under obese condition, male C57BL/6 J mice were fed with diet interaction for 15 weeks and subcutaneously injected with
BDE-47 (7 mg/kg or 70 mg/kg) or the vehicle weekly.
BDE-47 exposure (70 mg/kg) significantly elevated the
body weight and worsened hepatic steatosis along with increased
inflammation in high fat diet (HFD) fed mice. Furthermore, integration analysis of lipidomics and gene expression revealed that
BDE-47 up-regulated
triglyceride synthesis but suppressed
lipid exportation and β oxidation, aggravating the accumulation of hepatic
lipid in HFD fed mice. In addition, the increase of
liver fibrosis, serum
transaminase levels, as well as lipid peroxidation have been observed in mice co-treated with
BDE-47 and HFD. Moreover, BDE-47-induced fibrogenic responses in hepatocytes were suppressed by
antioxidants, which confirmed that BDE-47-induced
liver fibrosis was tightly associated with oxidative stress. In conclusion, these results provided new and robust evidence for revealing the hepatoxicity of
BDE-47 under obese condition and illustrated the underlying mechanism of
BDE-47 induced
liver fibrosis.