Betaine alleviates nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) via a manner involving BHMT/FTO/m6A/ PGC1α signaling.

ABSTRACT

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has emerged as a major public health crisis with significant health threats and economic burdens worldwide in the past decades. Betaine, a naturally occurring alkaloid compound present in various dietary sources including spinach and beets, has been shown to ameliorate hepatic lipid metabolism and attenuate (NAFLD), while the underlying mechanism remains elusive. Here, we propose a novel mechanism through which betaine exerts its protective effects against hepatic lipid accumulation and (NAFLD) from an epigenetics perspective. Specifically, we discover that betaine upregulates betaine homocysteine S-methyltransferase (BHMT) expression, leading to increased nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) production and subsequent upregulation of fat mass and obesity-associated protein (FTO) expression. Increased abundance of FTO targets peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma coactivator 1-alpha (PGC1α) mRNA and reduces the N6-methyladenosine (m6A) level in the CDS of Ppargc1α transcript, which positively regulates PGC1α expression and subsequently inhibits hepatic lipid accumulation. Overall, our works demonstrate that betaine may be a promising therapeutic strategy for treating (NAFLD) and improving liver function through the regulation of (NADPH) and m6A-mediated pathways.