Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40944151›Full record

ArticleNutrients2025

Effects of Fructose on Features of Steatotic Liver Disease in HepG2 Cells.

Matthew Thomas Howes, Jessie King, Rhonda Joy Rosengren

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Nutrients, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

3 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. D-Fructose Exposure Impairs Neuronal Development in Mouse Neural Stem Cells.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026
    Article
  3. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Matthew Thomas HowesDepartment of Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Otago, Dunedin 9016, New Zealand.ORCID 0009-0005-4654-2512
Jessie KingDepartment of Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Otago, Dunedin 9016, New Zealand.ORCID 0000-0002-3468-3394
Rhonda Joy RosengrenDepartment of Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Otago, Dunedin 9016, New Zealand.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

BACKGROUND/

objectivesMetabolic (dysfunction)-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), the hepatic consequence of metabolic syndrome, affects 30% of the global population. Studies in animals and humans investigating the effect of fructose on MASLD present conflicting findings, while in vitro methods often fail to add meaningful evidence due to acute exposures (<72 h) and non-physiological concentrations. This study aimed to determine the effect of fructose on triglyceride (TG) accumulation in HepG2 cells following acute and chronic exposures and assess its effect on the expression of genes related to de novo lipogenesis (DNL).

methodsTG concentration was measured after 48 h in response to fructose (20 mM) or glucose (20 mM), with or without a fatty acid mixture (oleic acid/palmitic acid 110 µM/55 µM), in low (5.5 mM)- and high (25.5 mM)-glucose media. To model chronic exposure, cells were maintained in fructose, glucose, or fatty acids for 28 days and the TG concentration was determined every 7 days. The effect of fructose on DNL regulators (

resultsNeither fructose nor glucose, with or without fatty acids, changed the TG levels in cells at 48 h and the media glucose concentration had no effect on this result. Similarly, fructose did not increase TG levels after 28 days. While fructose and glucose did not affect key DNL genes at 6 h, the fatty acid mixture reduced

conclusionsThis study shows that fructose did not significantly impact TG synthesis or DNL gene expression in the HepG2 cell model. Future studies should consider using primary human hepatocytes or more complex in vitro models.

Indexed as

Fatty LiverFructoseFatty AcidsGene Expression RegulationGlucoseHep G2 CellsHumansLipogenesisTriglyceridesFatty AcidsFructoseGlucoseTriglyceridesde novo lipogenesisfructoseHepG2 cellsmetabolic disfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD)

Identifiers

PMID40944151
PMCPMC12430389

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.