AsianScientist (May 24, 2018) – In a study published in the Journal of Proteome Research, scientists in China have reported the discovery of a compound in nutmeg that protects mice against liver damage.
Smelling nutmeg evokes images of fall, pumpkin pie and hot apple cider. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the world consumes 9,000 tons of nutmeg annually.
Nutmeg is the seed of the Myristica fragrans tree, which is commonly found in Indonesia, and has been used to treat asthma, rheumatic pain, toothaches and infections. The spice has also been used for years in traditional Chinese medicine to treat gastrointestinal illnesses. In the laboratory, researchers have shown that nutmeg can fight hyperlipidemia, hyperglycemia, heart tissue damage and hepatotoxicity.
In this study, researchers at the Kunming Institute of Botany, Nanchang University, Jiangxi University of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Peking University have discovered how nutmeg may prevent damage to the liver.
The researchers used a mouse animal model of liver toxicity to test the mechanism behind nutmeg’s protective effects. Metabolomics analyses showed that nutmeg likely protected against liver damage by restoring the mice to more healthy levels of various lipids and acylcarnitines; the latter are compounds involved in the transport of fatty acids.
Gene expression studies showed that peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor alpha (PPARα), a hormone receptor, was modulated by nutmeg, and the spice did not protect mice from liver injury if the PPARα gene was deleted. In addition, the team found that a specific compound in nutmeg—myrislignan—had a strong protective effect against liver damage.
The article can be found at: Yang et al. (2018) PPARα Mediates the Hepatoprotective Effects of Nutmeg.
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Source: American Chemical Society; Photo: Pixabay.
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