Background
To explore the clinical efficacy of Huazhi Rougan granules in treating non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and its effect on the oral and intestinal flora.
Methods
48 patients who met the inclusion criteria were intervened with Huazhi Rougan granules, the liver and spleen CT ratio, Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) syndrome, body mass index (BMI, WC, SMM, body fat percentage, visceral fat area), liver function, and blood lipid levels were compared before and after treatment, and the curative effect was evaluated; 6 cases of NAFLD patients whose clinical efficacy after Huazhi Rougan granule intervention was effective were randomly selected, and the patient's oral and intestinal samples were taken for further analysis.
Results
After treatment, the total effective rate of clinical efficacy was 85.14%. The TCM symptoms of NAFLD patients were significantly alleviated compared with before treatment (P < 0.05). There were statistically significant differences in ALT, AST, GGT, TC, and TG before and after treatment (P < 0.01). After treatment, BW, BMI, WC, body fat percentage, visceral fat area, liver hardness, and fat attenuation index were significantly decreased (P < 0.01). Oral-gut flora analysis showed: After treatment, the Shannon index of the gut microbial community increased (P < 0.01). Compared with before treatment, the abundance of Firmicutes decreased, while the abundance of Bacteroidetes, Candidatus-Sa, and Tenericutes increased (P < 0.05). At the genus level, the abundance of Bacteroides, Lactobacillus, and Bifidobacterium increased, and Streptococcus, Oribacterium, and Peptoanaerobacter decreased (P < 0.05). Before and after treatment, the dominant bacterial phyla in the intestine were the same, including Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes, and Proteobacteria. The abundance of Firmicutes and Roseburia decreased after treatment (P < 0.05).
Conclusions
Huazhi Rougan granules have a significant effect on the treatment of NAFLD, can improve liver function, reduce blood lipids, can effectively reduce body morphological indicators such as body mass, WC, body fat percentage, visceral fat area, liver stiffness measurement (LSM), and fat content, and has the function of protecting the liver and reducing blood pressure, promoting the role of intrahepatic fat metabolism; and significantly relieve the clinical symptoms. NAFLD patients have the gut and oral flora disturbances. Huazhi Rougan granules can restore the diversity of intestinal microbial communities in NAFLD patients and play a therapeutic role by regulating the abundance and composition of oral and Gut flora.