Dietary chenodeoxycholic acid attenuates high fat diet-induced growth retardation, lipid accumulation, and bile acid metabolism disorder in the liver of yellow catfish Pelteobagrus fulvidraco .

This experiment was conducted to investigate whether dietary chenodeoxycholic acid (CDCA) could attenuate high fat diet-induced growth retardation, lipid accumulation, and bile acid metabolism disorder in the liver of yellow catfish Pelteobagrus fulvidraco . Yellow catfish (initial weight: 4.40 ± 0.08 g) were fed four diets: the control (105.8 g kg -1 lipid), high fat diet (HF group, 159.6 g kg -1 lipid), the control supplemented with 0.9 g kg -1 CDCA (CDCA group) and high fat diet supplemented with 0.9 g kg -1 CDCA (HF+CDCA group). CDCA supplemented in the high fat diet significantly improved growth performance and feed utilization of yellow catfish ( P < 0.05). CDCA alleviated HF-induced increment of hepatic lipid and cholesterol contents by down-regulating the expressions of lipologenation-related genes and proteins and up-regulating the expressions of lipololysis-related genes and proteins. Compared to the control group, CDCA group significantly reduced cholesterol level ( P < 0.05). CDCA significantly inhibited bile acid biosynthesis and changed bile acid profile by activating farnesoid X receptor (FXR) ( P < 0.05). The contents of CDCA, taurochenodeoxycholic acid, and glycochenodeoxycholic acid were significantly increased with the supplementation of CDCA ( P < 0.05). HF-induced elevation of cholic acid content was significantly attenuated by the supplementation of CDCA ( P < 0.05). Supplementation of CDCA in control and HF groups could improve the liver antioxidant capacity. This study proved that CDCA could improve growth retardation, lipid accumulation, and bile acid metabolism disorder induced by high fat diet, which provided new insight into understanding the physiological functions of bile acids in fish.