Immunoregulatory Effect of Koumine on Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease Rats

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most common and important chronic liver disease all over the world. In the present study, we found that koumine, the main and active ingredient isolated from Gelsemium elegans, has the potential therapeutic effect on NAFLD rats by immunomodulatory activity. Koumine could significantly reduce the level of TG, TC, LDL-C, ALT, and AST in the serum of NAFLD rats and increase the level of HDL-C, reduce the liver index, and improve the adipose-like lesions of liver cells in NAFLD rats. Furthermore, treatment with koumine inhibited the severity of NAFLD. In addition, koumine-treated rats significantly increased the proportion of CD4