A new paper out of Egypt (who knew, they do rapamycin research in Egypt!). Its a pretty small sample size study…
Introduction: High-fructose, high-fat diet consumption (HFHF) is one of the primary causes of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), which is due to impaired beta-oxidation or apolipoprotein secretion by hepatocytes. Activation of autophagy in hepatocytes could be a therapeutic method against hepatic complications. This study was designed to compare effects of rapamycin and intermittent fasting-inducing autophagy in rats with experimentally induced nonalcoholic fatty liver.
Material and methods: Male rats were divided into five groups: C (control, n = 6), the experimental group (EX) subdivided, EXIa (HFHF, n = 6), EXIb (recovery, n = 6), EXII (rapamycin, n = 6) and EXIII (intermittent fasting, n = 6).
Conclusions: It could be concluded that rapamycin and intermittent fasting significantly improved NAFLD-induced changes of liver structure and function by inducing autophagy in hepatocytes.