Calorie restriction (CR) and fasting are common approaches to weight reduction, but the maintenance is difficult after resuming food consumption. Meanwhile, the gut microbiome associated with energy ...harvest alters dramatically in response to nutrient deprivation. Here, we reported that CR and high-fat diet (HFD) both remodeled the gut microbiota with similar microbial composition, Parabacteroides distasonis was most significantly decreased after CR or HFD. CR altered microbiota and reprogramed metabolism, resulting in a distinct serum bile acid profile characterized by depleting the proportion of non-12α-hydroxylated bile acids, ursodeoxycholic acid and lithocholic acid. Downregulation of UCP1 expression in brown adipose tissue and decreased serum GLP-1 were observed in the weight-rebound mice. Moreover, treatment with Parabacteroides distasonis or non-12α-hydroxylated bile acids ameliorated weight regain via increased thermogenesis. Our results highlighted the gut microbiota-bile acid crosstalk in rebound weight gain and Parabacteroides distasonis as a potential probiotic to prevent rapid post-CR weight gain.
Pu-erh tea displays cholesterol-lowering properties, but the underlying mechanism has not been elucidated. Theabrownin is one of the most active and abundant pigments in Pu-erh tea. Here, we show ...that theabrownin alters the gut microbiota in mice and humans, predominantly suppressing microbes associated with bile-salt hydrolase (BSH) activity. Theabrownin increases the levels of ileal conjugated bile acids (BAs) which, in turn, inhibit the intestinal FXR-FGF15 signaling pathway, resulting in increased hepatic production and fecal excretion of BAs, reduced hepatic cholesterol, and decreased lipogenesis. The inhibition of intestinal FXR-FGF15 signaling is accompanied by increased gene expression of enzymes in the alternative BA synthetic pathway, production of hepatic chenodeoxycholic acid, activation of hepatic FXR, and hepatic lipolysis. Our results shed light into the mechanisms behind the cholesterol- and lipid-lowering effects of Pu-erh tea, and suggest that decreased intestinal BSH microbes and/or decreased FXR-FGF15 signaling may be potential anti-hypercholesterolemia and anti-hyperlipidemia therapies.
Hyocholic acid (HCA) is a major bile acid (BA) species in the BA pool of pigs, a species known for its exceptional resistance to spontaneous development of diabetic phenotypes. HCA and its ...derivatives are also present in human blood and urine. We investigate whether human HCA profiles can predict the development of metabolic disorders. We find in the first cohort (n = 1107) that both obesity and diabetes are associated with lower serum concentrations of HCA species. A separate cohort study (n = 91) validates this finding and further reveals that individuals with pre-diabetes are associated with lower levels of HCA species in feces. Serum HCA levels increase in the patients after gastric bypass surgery (n = 38) and can predict the remission of diabetes two years after surgery. The results are replicated in two independent, prospective cohorts (n = 132 and n = 207), where serum HCA species are found to be strong predictors for metabolic disorders in 5 and 10 years, respectively. These findings underscore the association of HCA species with diabetes, and demonstrate the feasibility of using HCA profiles to assess the future risk of developing metabolic abnormalities.
High-grade serous carcinoma (HGSC) represents a formidable challenge in the realm of ovarian cancer, notorious for its elusive early detection, poor prognosis and limited understanding of the ...intricacies of its pathogenesis ...
The composition of the bile acid (BA) pool is closely associated with obesity and is modified by gut microbiota. Perturbations of gut microbiota shape the BA composition, which, in turn, may alter ...important BA signaling and affect host metabolism.
We investigated BA composition of high BMI subjects from a human cohort study and a high fat diet (HFD) obesity prone (HF-OP) / HFD obesity resistant (HF-OR) mice model. Gut microbiota was analysed by metagenomics sequencing. GLP-1 secretion and gene regulation studies involved ELISA, qPCR, Western blot, Immunohistochemistry, and Immunofluorescence staining.
We found that the proportion of non-12-OH BAs was significantly decreased in the unhealthy high BMI subjects. The HF-OR mice had an enhanced level of non-12-OH BAs. Non-12-OH BAs including ursodeoxycholate (UDCA), chenodeoxycholate (CDCA), and lithocholate (LCA) were decreased in the HF-OP mice and associated with altered gut microbiota. Clostridium scindens was decreased in HF-OP mice and had a positive correlation with UDCA and LCA. Gavage of Clostridium scindens in mice increased the levels of hepatic non-12-OH BAs, accompanied by elevated serum 7α-hydroxy-4-cholesten-3-one (C4) levels. In HF-OP mice, altered BA composition was associated with significantly downregulated expression of GLP-1 in ileum and PGC1α, UCP1 in brown adipose tissue. In addition, we identified that UDCA attenuated the high fat diet-induced obesity via enhancing levels of non-12-OH BAs.
Our study highlights that dysregulated BA signaling mediated by gut microbiota contributes to obesity susceptibility, suggesting modulation of BAs could be a promising strategy for obesity therapy.
The burden of neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders continues to grow with significant impacts on human health and social economy worldwide. Increasing clinical and preclinical evidences have ...implicated that bile acids (BAs) are involved in the onset and progression of neurological and neuropsychiatric diseases. Here, we summarized recent studies of BAs in three types of highly prevalent brain disorders, depression, Alzheimer's disease, and stroke. The shared and specific BA profiles were explored and potential markers associated with disease development and progression were summarized. The mechanistic roles of BAs were reviewed with focuses on inflammation, gut–brain–microbiota axis, cellular apoptosis. We also discussed future perspectives for the prevention and treatment of neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders by targeting BAs and related molecules and gut microbiota. Our understanding of BAs and their roles in brain disorders is still evolving. A large number of questions still need to be addressed on the emerging crosstalk among central, peripheral, intestine, and their contribution to brain and mental health.
Perioperative intravenous (IV) infusions of lidocaine and esketamine reduce postoperative pain, but there are few studies on the quality of recovery and patients' emotional states postoperatively. We ...aimed to explore the effects of perioperative IV lidocaine and esketamine on the quality of recovery and emotional state after thyroidectomy.
In this randomised trial, 137 patients undergoing thyroidectomy were randomly assigned to three groups: a lidocaine group (Group L), an esketamine group (Group E) and a normal saline placebo group (Group C). The primary outcome was the Quality of Recovery 40 (QoR-40) on postoperative days (PODs) 1 and 2. The secondary outcomes included Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS) and Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS) scores on days 1 and 2 after surgery, pain scores, opioid consumption and incidence of postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV). Statistical analysis was performed using the one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), the Kruskal-Wallis and Chi-square tests.
The global QoR-40 scores in groups L and E on POD 1 and POD 2 were significantly higher than in group C (
< 0.001). The SAS and SDS scores on POD 1 and POD 2 in groups L and E were significantly lower than in group C (
< 0.05). There were statistically significant differences in Numerical Rating Scale (NRS) scores among the three groups at 1 h, 2 h, 6 h and 12 h (
< 0.05).
Perioperative IV lidocaine and esketamine improve the quality of postoperative recovery and the emotional state of patients undergoing thyroidectomy.
The metabolic implications in Alzheimer's disease (AD) remain poorly understood. Here, we conducted a metabolomics study on a moderately aging Chinese Han cohort (n = 1397; mean age 66 years). ...Conjugated bile acids, branch-chain amino acids (BCAAs), and glutamate-related features exhibited strong correlations with cognitive impairment, clinical stage, and brain amyloid-β deposition (n = 421). These features demonstrated synergistic performances across clinical stages and subpopulations and enhanced the differentiation of AD stages beyond demographics and Apolipoprotein E ε4 allele (APOE-ε4). We validated their performances in eight data sets (total n = 7685) obtained from Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) and Religious Orders Study and Memory and Aging Project (ROSMAP). Importantly, identified features are linked to blood ammonia homeostasis. We further confirmed the elevated ammonia level through AD development (n = 1060). Our findings highlight AD as a metabolic disease and emphasize the metabolite-mediated ammonia disturbance in AD and its potential as a signature and therapeutic target for AD.
Gut dysbiosis is heavily involved in the development of various human diseases. There are thousands of publications per year for investigating the role of gut microbiota in diseases. However, ...emerging evidence has indicated the frequent data inconsistency between different studies, which is largely overlooked. There are many factors that can cause data variation and inconsistency during the process of microbiota study, in particular, sample storage conditions and sequencing process. Here, we systemically evaluated the impacts of six fecal sample storage conditions (three non-commercial storage protocols, -80°C, -80°C with 70% ethanol (ET_-80°C), 4°C with 70% ethanol (ET_4°C), and three commercial storage reagents, OMNIgeneGUT OMR-200 (GT) and MGIEasy (MGIE) at room temperature, and Longsee at 4°C (LS) on gut microbiome profile based on 16S rRNA gene sequencing. In addition, we also investigated the impacts of storage periods (1 and 2 weeks, or 6 months) and sequencing platform on microbiome profile. The efficacy of storage conditions was evaluated by DNA yield and quality, α and β diversity, relative abundance of the dominant and functional bacteria associated with short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) production, and BAs metabolism. Our current study suggested that -80°C was acceptable for fecal sample storage, and the addition of 70% ethanol had some benefits in maintaining the microbial community structure. Meanwhile, we found that samples in ET_4°C and GT reagents were comparable, both of them introduced some biases in α or β diversity, and the relative abundance of functional bacteria. Samples stored in MGIE reagent resulted in the least variation, whereas the most obvious variations were introduced by LS reagents. In addition, our results indicated that variations caused by storage condition were larger than that of storage time and sequencing platform. Collectively, our study provided a multi-dimensional evaluation on the impacts of storage conditions, storage time periods, and sequencing platform on gut microbial profile.
Bile reflux gastritis (BRG) is associated with the development of gastric cancer (GC), but the specific mechanism remains elusive. Here, a comprehensive study is conducted to explore the roles of ...refluxed bile acids (BAs) and microbiome in gastric carcinogenesis. The results show that conjugated BAs, interleukin 6 (IL‐6), lipopolysaccharide (LPS), and the relative abundance of LPS‐producing bacteria are increased significantly in the gastric juice of both BRG and GC patients. A secondary BA, taurodeoxycholic acid (TDCA), is significantly and positively correlated with the LPS‐producing bacteria in the gastric juice of these patients. TDCA promotes the proliferation of normal gastric epithelial cells (GES‐1) through activation of the IL‐6/JAK1/STAT3 pathway. These results are further verified in two mouse models, one by gavage of TDCA, LPS, and LPS‐producing bacteria (Prevotella melaninogenica), respectively, and the other by bile reflux (BR) surgery, mimicking clinical bile refluxing. Moreover, the bile reflux induced gastric precancerous lesions observed in the post BR surgery mice can be prevented by treatment with cryptotanshinone, a plant‐derived STAT3 inhibitor. These results reveal an important underlying mechanism by which bile reflux promotes gastric carcinogenesis and provide an alternative strategy for the prevention of GC associated with BRG.
Bile acids (BAs), especially conjugated BAs, are significantly increased in gastric juice of patients with bile reflux gastritis, which leads to an increase of intragastric pH value and ultimately to a significant increase of lipopolysaccharide‐producing bacteria in the stomach. Bile reflux can promote gastric carcinogenesis through the activation of the IL‐6/JAK1/STAT3 pathway and STAT3 inhibition can alleviate this carcinogenic effect.