Inulin intervention attenuates hepatic steatosis in rats via modulating gut microbiota and maintaining intestinal barrier function. (January 2023)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Yang, Zhandong; Su, Huihui; Lv, Yunjuan; Tao, Heqing; Jiang, Yonghong; Ni, Ziyan; Peng, Liang; Chen, Xueqing
• Is Part Of: Food research international. Volume 163(2023)
• Publication Date: 2023-01
• Subjects: Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease -- Hepatic steatosis -- Inulin -- Gut microbiota -- Short-chain fatty acids -- Tryptophan metabolism -- Intestinal barrier; Food -- Analysis -- Periodicals; Food industry and trade -- Periodicals; Food industry and trade -- Canada -- Periodicals; Food Technology -- Periodicals; Food -- Periodicals; Food-Processing Industry -- Periodicals; Aliments -- Industrie et commerce -- Périodiques; Aliments -- Industrie et commerce -- Canada -- Périodiques; Aliments -- Recherche -- Périodiques; Food industry and trade; Canada; Periodicals; Electronic journals; 664.005
• DOI: 10.1016/j.foodres.2022.112309
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0963-9969

Abstract

Graphical abstract: Inulin intervention attenuates hepatic steatosis in rats via modulating gut microbiota and maintaining intestinal barrier function Highlights: Inulin effectively attenuates phenotypes of hepatic steatosis. Inulin restores intestinal barrier integrity and function. Inulin promotes proliferation of Bifidobacterium, Phascolarctobacterium and Blautia . Inulin improves faecal concentrations of propionate and butyrate, but reduces acetate levels. Inulin reverses faecal contents of indole-3-acetic acid, kynurenine and 5-hydoxyindoleacetic acid. Abstract: Increasing evidence has suggested the mitigatory efficacy of prebiotic inulin on nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), nevertheless, its action mechanisms remain elusive. Herein, inulin consumption effectively ameliorated high-sucrose diet-induced hepatic steatosis and inflammation, and rehabilitated liver lipogenesis regulators, including carbohydrate response element-binding protein, stearoyl-CoA desaturase-1 and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor alpha. Furthermore, inulin supplementation restored the intestinal barrier integrity and function by up-regulating expressions of tight junction proteins (zonula occludens-1, claudin-1 and occludin). High-throughput sequencing demonstrated that inulin administration regulated the gut microbiota composition, wherein abundance of short-chain fatty acid (SCFA)-producers, including Bifidobacterium, Phascolarctobacterium and Blautia, was significantly enhanced in the inulin-treated rats, conversely, opportunistic pathogens, such as Acinetobacter and Corynebacterium_1, were suppressed. SCFA quantitative analysis showed that dietary inulin suppressed faecal acetate levels, but improved propionate and butyrate concentrations in rats with NAFLD. Functional prediction showed that tryptophan metabolism was one of the key metabolic pathways affected by gut microbiota changes. A targeted metabolomics profiling of tryptophan metabolism demonstrated that inulin intervention up-regulated faecal contents of indole-3-acetic acid and kynurenic acid, whereas down-regulated levels of kynurenine and 5-hydoxyindoleacetic acid in NAFLD rats. Therefore, this study demonstrated that inulin intake alleviated hepatic steatosis likely by regulating the gut microbiota composition and function and restoring the intestinal barrier integrity, which may provide a novel notion for the prevention and treatment of NAFLD in future.