title: Probiotics may delay the progression of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease by restoring the gut microbiota structure and improving intestinal endotoxemia.
abstract: Gut-derived bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and subsequent hepatic toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) activation have been recognized to be involved in the onset of diet-induced nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), but little is known about the variation of LPS and TLR4 during the progression of NAFLD. Probiotics were able to inhibit proliferation of harmful bacteria and improve gastrointestinal barrier function. However, it's unclear whether LPS/TLR4 is involved in the protection effect of probiotics on NAFLD. In this study, we described characteristic of gut microbiota structure in the progression of NAFLD, and we also analyzed the relationship between gut microbiota and LPS/TLR4 in this process. Furthermore, we applied probiotics intervention to investigate the effect of probiotics on gut flora structure, intestinal integrity, serum LPS, liver TLR4 and liver pathology. Our results showed that serum LPS and liver TLR4 were highly increased during progression of NAFLD, with gut flora diversity and gut mircobiological colonization resistance (B/E) declining. Furthermore, probiotics could improve gut microbiota structure and liver pathology. Probiotics could also downregulate serum LPS and liver TLR4. Our results suggested that both gut flora alteration and endotoxemia may be involved in the progression of NAFLD. Probiotics may delay the progression of NAFLD via LPS/TLR4 signaling.
authors.affiliation: Department of Laboratory, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Medical College of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710004, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Xue
authors.affiliation: Department of Laboratory, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Medical College of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710004, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Juntao
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: He
authors.affiliation: Department of Laboratory, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Medical College of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710004, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Ning
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology, The Second Affiliated Hospital, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710004, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Xiaolan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Medical College of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710061, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Ming
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Laboratory, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Medical College of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710004, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Xiaokang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Department of Laboratory, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Medical College of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710004, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Zeshi
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Medical College of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710004, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Yaofeng
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.affiliation: Department of Laboratory, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Medical College of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710004, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Jiali
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology and Pathogenic Biology, Health Science Center, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710061, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Jiru
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Department of Laboratory, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Medical College of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710004, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Geng
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D019446:Endotoxemia / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000628:therapy; D000069196:Gastrointestinal Microbiome; D007413:Intestinal Mucosa / Q000378:metabolism; D007422:Intestines / Q000382:microbiology; D008070:Lipopolysaccharides / Q000097:blood; D008099:Liver / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D065626:Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000628:therapy; D019936:Probiotics / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D051197:Toll-Like Receptor 4 / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D008070:Lipopolysaccharides; C495347:Tlr4 protein, rat; D051197:Toll-Like Receptor 4