Fatty Liver tagged posts

Scanning electron microscopy images of F. prausnitzii grown in LYBHI medium.

Oral administration of a commensal gut microbe, Faecalibacterium prausnitzii, improves fatty liver in mice. F. prausnitzii is considered one of the most important bacterial indicators of a healthy gut. Due to the central role of liver in the whole body metabolism, fatty liver is a major health problem. In Finland alone, it affects around 1,000,000 people of the general population and has an occurrence of 90% among obese individuals. Humans with high liver fat content had less F. prausnitzii and more inflammation in the subcutaneous adipose tissue. The researchers, therefore, decided to study whether oral F...

Defensins, anti-microbial molecules essential to maintain healthy gut flora

Extra vitamin D can restore good bacteria in the gut, according to a study in mice, giving hope in the fight against risk factors for diabetes and heart disease. It is well known that a diet high in fat can trigger a metabolic syndrome, a group of symptoms that pose as risk factors for diabetes and heart disease. Scientists have now found vitamin D deficiency is necessary for this syndrome to progress in mice, with disturbances in gut bacteria.

If these findings can be validated in humans, sun bathing and vitamin D supplements may be feasible and affordable approaches to improve or even prevent metabolic syndrome...

DNA methylations occur when methyl groups bind to the DNA. These can either activate or inactivate genes. Epigenetic factors modify histone tails by e.g. transferring methyl or acetyl groups on lysine side chains. This can complicate or facilitate the activation of a gene. The direct methylation of the DNA changes the gene expression permanently if it takes place in the control regions of genes (so-called CpG islands), that have been made accessible by the modification of the histones. Credit: Copyright: DIfE

Scientists have shown in a mouse model that the epigenetic* modification of the Igfbp2** gene observed in the young animal precedes a fatty liver in the adult animal later in life...