Dendrobine ameliorates non-alcoholic fatty liver disease by inhibiting mitochondrial fission through modulation of the Wnt5a/p-CaMKII/p-Drp1 signaling axis

Ethnopharmacological relevance: Dendrobium nobile Lindl. (DNL) is a precious traditional Chinese herbal medicine with a variety of bioactive substances, which is recorded in the Chinese Pharmacopoeia (2025 edition). Contemporary pharmacological research has demonstrated that DNL possesses the functions of enhancing immune function, regulating the gastrointestinal tract, resisting liver injury and lowering blood sugar levels. Recently, dendrobine (DDB), the principal bioactive component of DNL, has been identified to exhibit hepatoprotective effects. However, the therapeutic effects and mechanisms of DDB in the context of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) remain largely unexplored.

Aim of the study: The aim of this study was to investigate the role of mitochondrial fission in the model of high-fat diet (HFD) and palmitic acid (PA)-induced NAFLD and determine whether DDB protects against NAFLD by inhibiting dynamin-related protein 1 (Drp1)-mediated mitochondrial fission.

Materials and methods: In this study, NAFLD models in vivo and in vitro were established in C57BL/6J mice and AML12 cells through HFD and PA, respectively. Animal ultrasound, hepatic histopathological examination and serum biochemical analysis were employed to evaluate liver fat accumulation and damage. RNA-sequencing was conducted to explore the changes in gene expression in NAFLD. Transmission electron microscope, ATP and JC-1 were applied to assess mitochondrial function. Western blotting and immunofluorescence were utilized to elucidate the regulatory effect of DDB on Wnt5a/p-CaMKII pathway and mitochondrial fission. Molecular docking, PoseView and cellular thermal shift assay were employed to further validate the molecular mechanism of DDB binding to Wnt5a.

Results: DDB administration significantly inhibited body/liver weight gain and hepatic fat accumulation in NAFLD mice, reducing TG and TC levels in serum, and improving mitochondrial function. RNA-sequencing highlighted energy metabolism regulation and noncanonical Wnt signaling pathways as key roles of DDB played in the treatment of NAFLD. The in vivo experimental results showed that DDB inhibited the Wnt5a/p-CaMKII pathway and p-Drp1 mediated mitochondrial fission. Further in vitro experiments demonstrated that inhibition of Drp1 and Wnt5a was essential for DDB-mediated liver protection, thereby suppressing mitochondrial fission and alleviating lipid accumulation in AML12 cells. Role of Wnt5a/p-CaMKII/p-Drp1 signaling in mitochondrial fission was further characterized using Drp1 and Wnt5a inhibitors, namely Mdivi-1 and Box5, both of which exhibited a similar hepatoprotective mechanism as DDB. Additional studies unraveled that DDB binding to Wnt5a led to a reduction in the thermal stability of Wnt5a protein and acted as its antagonist to block the noncanonical Wnt pathway mediated by Wnt5a.

Conclusions: This study reveals that DDB mitigates mitochondrial fission mediated by p-Drp1 through the inhibition of the Wnt5a/p-CaMKII signaling pathway, thereby improving lipid metabolism and alleviating NAFLD.

Dendrobine; Mitochondrial fission; Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease; Wnt5a/CaMKII signaling; p-Drp1.