TNF and steatosis: Thus, we find that notwithstanding the continued CD-HFD diet, exercise prompted a decline in hepatocyte steatosis combined with an attendant decrease in TNFα expression leading to a drop in the incidence of ballooning (Figure 2B) and, consequently, to a lower NAFLD activity score (Figure 2C) along with decreases in ALT and AST concentrations (Figure 4).