UCP2 and metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease: Long-term activation of TRPV1 in tissues causes upregulation of hepatic uncoupling protein 2 (UCP2), which effectively prevented high-fat diet-induced NAFLD in mice.319 Previous studies have shown that TRPV1 activation by dietary capsaicin resulted in the upregulation of UCP2 expression in a wild-type (WT) mouse liver model but not in Trpv1 knockout mice.