Histopathological aspects of liver under variable food restriction: has the intense one-week food restriction a protective effect on non-alcoholic-fatty-liver-disease (NAFLD) development?

Non-alcoholic-fatty-liver-disease (NAFLD) is a clinicopathologic entity characterized by a variety of hepatic injury patterns without significant alcohol use. It has a close association with obesity, so treatment includes weight loss, control of insulin sensitivity, interventions directed at inflammation and fibrosis. There is a certain relationship between the grade and duration of food restriction and hepatic function. The objective of this work was to describe the relationship between biochemistry, autoantibodies, insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I), insulin-like growth factor binding protein 3 (IGFBP-3), and liver morphology in experimental rabbit groups with food restriction as compared to controls with ad libitum food (ADL) income. The experiment was performed on a total of 24 rabbits of a weaning age of 25–81 days. The first group (R1) was restricted between 32 and 39 days of age to 50g of food per rabbit a day. The second group (R2) was also restricted between 32 and 39 days, but the rabbits received 65g of food per rabbit a day. At the end of the experiment, the blood and liver samples were collected at necropsy. NAFLD has developed in all three groups. There was any autoantibody positivity in all three groups. IGF-I is moderately higher in R1 and R2 group, as compared to the control group (P>0.05). IGFBP-3 is without statistical significance in all three groups. Alkaline phosphatase (ALP) is the only liver biochemical parameter that has significantly increased following food restriction (P>0.039). Single one-week restriction has any protective effect on NAFLD development.