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| Study on the mechanism of Ganjiang Lingzhu Decoction in improving metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis by restoring skeletal muscle function |
| Hits 25 Download times 15 Received:January 08, 2026 |
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| DOI
10.11656/j.issn.1672-1519.2026.05.12 |
| Key Words
Ganjiang Lingzhu Decoction;metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis;sarcopenia;satellite cells;myogenic regulatory factors |
| Author Name | Affiliation | E-mail | | CHEN Milian | Institute of Gastroenterology, Longhua Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai 200032, China
National Key Laboratory of Integration of Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine for Modernization of Classical Chinese Medicine, Shanghai 200032, China | | | ZHANG Xuming | Institute of Gastroenterology, Longhua Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai 200032, China
National Key Laboratory of Integration of Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine for Modernization of Classical Chinese Medicine, Shanghai 200032, China | | | XIANG Yingying | Institute of Gastroenterology, Longhua Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai 200032, China
National Key Laboratory of Integration of Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine for Modernization of Classical Chinese Medicine, Shanghai 200032, China | | | ZHANG Li | Institute of Gastroenterology, Longhua Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai 200032, China
National Key Laboratory of Integration of Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine for Modernization of Classical Chinese Medicine, Shanghai 200032, China | zhangli.hl@163.com |
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| Abstract
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| [Objective] Under the guidance of the theory of “Spleen governing muscles” in traditional Chinese medicine，this study aims to explore the effects of Ganjiang Lingzhu Decoction（GJLZ） on muscle function and the improvement mechanism of metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis（MASLD）. [Methods] Male 6-week-old C57BL/6 mice were randomly divided into normal group，model group，low-dose GJLZ group，medium-dose GJLZ group and high-dose GJLZ group，with 6 mice in each group. Except for the normal group which was fed a normal diet，the other groups were fed a methionine-choline-deficient（MCD） diet for 4 weeks to induce the MASLD model. The drug intervention groups were simultaneously given the corresponding doses of GJLZ. One day before treatment，the forelimb grip strength of each group of mice was measured. After the mice recovered for 1 day，they were fasted overnight and sacrificed. Whole blood was collected and serum was separated. Hematoxylin-eosin（HE） staining was used to observe the pathological changes in liver tissue；when collecting skeletal muscle，an appropriate amount was taken to extract muscle satellite cells（SCs），and HE staining was used to observe the pathological changes in skeletal muscle tissue；oil red O staining was used to observe lipid deposition in the liver and muscle；kits were used to detect the levels of total cholesterol（TC） and triglycerides（TG） in liver tissue. The levels of alanine aminotransferase（ALT） and aspartate aminotransferase（AST） in the serum of each group of mice were detected by an automatic biochemical analyzer. Real-time fluorescence quantitative polymerase chain reaction（RT-qPCR），Western blot and immunofluorescence were used to detect the levels of muscle growth-related factors. [Results] Compared with the normal group，the levels of ALT and AST in the serum of the model group increased（P<0.01），and the liver pathological examination showed obvious ballooning degeneration and steatosis，with an increased NAS score（P<0.01），and Oil Red O staining showed more lipid droplets，indicating successful induction of MASLD；the forelimb grip strength decreased（P<0.01），and the muscle tubes atrophied（P<0.01），and Oil Red O staining showed intermuscular fat infiltration；RT-qPCR and Western blot results showed that the expression level of myostatin（MSTN） in the muscle of model mice increased（P<0.05），the expression level of insulin-like growth factor-1（IGF-1） decreased（P<0.05 or P<0.001），the expression level of myogenic differentiation antigen（MyoD） decreased（P<0.05 or P<0.01），and the gene level of myogenin（Myog） decreased（P<0.05）. Immunofluorescence detection results showed that compared with the normal group，the positive expression areas of paired box 7（PAX7） and MYOG in the model group decreased. Double staining of SCs by immunofluorescence showed that the expression of MSTN in SCs in the model group increased compared with the normal group. Compared with the model group，the levels of TG in the liver（P<0.01） and NAS score（P<0.01） in the low-dose GJLZ group decreased，and the levels of ALT in the serum（P<0.01），TG in the liver（P<0.01） and NAS score（P<0.01） in the medium-dose and high-dose GJLZ groups decreased；the forelimb grip strength（P<0.05 or P<0.01） in the low-dose，medium-dose and high-dose GJLZ groups recovered，and the muscle tube atrophy（P<0.05 or P<0.01） and intermuscular fat infiltration improved；the low-dose GJLZ group had no significant effect on the levels of muscle growth-related factors in MASLD mice；the levels of MSTN in the medium-dose and high-dose GJLZ groups decreased（P<0.05 or P<0.01），and the levels of IGF-1 and MyoD increased（P<0.05 or P<0.01）；the positive expression areas of PAX7 and MYOG in the low-dose，medium-dose and high-dose GJLZ groups decreased，and the expression of MSTN in SCs decreased. [Conclusion] GJLZ may promote the increase of muscle mass in mice，alleviate muscle fiber atrophy，enhance forelimb grip strength and improve MASLD by inhibiting the expression of muscle atrophy-related factors（such as MSTN），up-regulating the expression of muscle synthesis-related factors（such as IGF-1，MyoD and MYOG），and down-regulating the expression level of MSTN in SCs to increase the number of SCs. |
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