Prevention of diet-induced fatty liver in experimental animals by the oral administration of a fatty acid bile acid conjugate (FABAC)

Abstract

Fatty acid bile acid conjugates (FABACs) are a new family of synthetic molecules designed to solubilize biliary cholesterol. They were shown to prevent and dissolve cholesterol gallstones in inbred C57L/J mice fed a lithogenic, high-fat diet (HFD). In these mice, fatty liver was observed in the controls but not in the FABAC-treated ones. The present study was designed to study the effect of FABAC (arachidyl-amido-cholanoic acid) on diet-induced fatty liver in rats, hamsters, and mice. The fatty liver score (on a scale of 0-4 by light microscopy) was 4.0 in control hamsters and 0.3 in the FABAC-fed hamsters (P < .001). In mice it was 1.5 and 0.4, respectively (P