Background  

Sleeve gastrectomy is thought to decrease the appetite and body weight of morbid obesity patients in the clinic. The purpose is to investigate the effect of sleeve gastrectomy on preventing steatohepatitis in morbid obesity rats.

Methods  

Thirty rats were randomized into normal chow group (NC), high-fat-diet group (HD), and sleeve group (SG). Rats in the SG group received sleeve gastrectomy operation. After operation, rats in SG and HD group received a high-fat diet, while rats in the NC group received normal chow. Body weight was measured every 10 days. Thirty days later, animals were sacrificed and blood samples were collected to check total cholesterol, HDL, and triglyceride. Fresh liver sections were made and stained with Nile red and observed under a fluorescence microscope.

Results  

Rats in the SG group received a moderate body weight decrease (191 ± 16.2 g) in the first 10 days, while this did not happen in the other two groups (213 ± 13.7 g and 243 ± 11.9 g). At the sacrifice date, weight of rats in the SG group was still much lower than those in the HD group. Plasma triglycerol (102.3 ± 18.6 mg/dL) and cholesterol (84.3 ± 6.1 mg/dL) of rats in the SG group were much lower than those in the HD group (198.5 ± 18.5 mg/dL, 133.9 ± 22.0 mg/dL). Under the fluorescence microscope, adipose infiltration was very obvious in the liver of the HD animals, while adipose infiltration was not serious in the SG group.

Conclusion  

High-fat diet can result in obvious body weight increase and hepatic adipose infiltration compared with normal chow. Sleeve gastrectomy can decrease body weight even in high-fat-diet models. Body weight control caused by sleeve gastrectomy can relieve high-fat-diet-induced steatohepatitis in rats.