Transcriptional profiling in rats and an ex vivo analysis implicate novel beneficial function of egg shell membrane in liver fibrosis

Abstract Egg shell membrane (ESM) is a natural and safe food by-product from egg processing whilst there is little information about the role of ESM as a food component. Effects of dietary ESM on gene expression in rat liver were investigated through DNA microarray comprehensive analysis. The expression of smooth muscle-α-actin, which is a marker of hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) activation, and integrin beta-like 1, decorin, asporin, lumican and collagen type 1 alpha 1, which are components of extracellular matrix (ECM) and involved in the up-regulation of HSCs activation and fibrosis, was found to be significantly down-regulated after 14 days of ESM treatment. Subsequently, serum obtained from rats given ESM diet also suppressed the expression of COL1A1 and COL1A2 in human hepatoma C3A cells. Our in vivo and ex vivo findings demonstrate that these gene alterations may contribute to the beneficial effect of ESM partially through down-regulation of c-jun and c-fos signal transduction thereby blunting HSCs activation and eventually preventing liver fibrosis. These outcomes not only provide novel information about the functional and nutritional availability of ESM, but also might contribute to the field of environmental protection.