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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Pharmacol.

Sec. Gastrointestinal and Hepatic Pharmacology

Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fphar.2025.1647231

Exercise ameliorates hepatic lipid accumulation via upregulating serum PRL and activating hepatic PRLR-mediated JAK2/STAT5 signaling pathway in NAFLD mice

Provisionally accepted
Jia  FanJia Fan1Kaidi  NieKaidi Nie2*Binghua  ShaoBinghua Shao2Xiaobing  LiuXiaobing Liu2Jiao  LiuJiao Liu2*
  • 1Chengdu Sport University, Chengdu, China
  • 2Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is one of the most prevalent chronic liver disorders, closely associated with nutritional excess, obesity, and metabolic syndrome. Hepatic lipid accumulation is a critical factor influencing the pathogenesis, progression, and prognosis of NAFLD. It is well established that exercise effectively prevents NAFLD, primarily by reducing visceral lipid deposition and modulating lipid metabolism. Numerous cohort clinical studies have demonstrated that low circulating prolactin (PRL) levels are linked to metabolic disorders, whereas elevated circulating PRL levels can act on target organs such as the liver to maintain and promote metabolic homeostasis. This study investigated the effects of aerobic exercise on serum lipid profiles, hepatic pathological changes, and serum PRL levels in NAFLD mice. The findings suggest that exercise moderately increases serum PRL levels and reduces intrahepatic lipid accumulation. The underlying mechanism may involve the upregulation of the classical hepatic prolactin receptor (PRLR)mediated JAK2/STAT5 signaling pathway .

Keywords: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), Exercise, Hepatic lipid accumulation, Serum PRL, Jak2/Stat5

Received: 15 Jun 2025; Accepted: 04 Aug 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Fan, Nie, Shao, Liu and Liu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence:
Kaidi Nie, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, China
Jiao Liu, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, China

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