Li Xinyu, He Maozhang, Yi Xinrui, Lu Xuejin, Zhu Meizi, Xue Min, Tang Yunshu, Zhu Yaling
Department of Pathophysiology, College of Basic Medical Science, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China.
Department of Microbiology, College of Basic Medical Science, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China.
Heliyon. 2024 Feb 27;10(5):e26991. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e26991. eCollection 2024 Mar 15.
Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a stress-induced liver injury related to heredity, environmental exposure and the gut microbiome metabolism. Short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), the metabolites of gut microbiota (GM), participate in the regulation of hepatic steatosis and inflammation through the gut-liver axis, which play an important role in the alleviation of NAFLD. However, little progress has been made in systematically elucidating the mechanism of how SCFAs improve NAFLD, especially the epigenetic mechanisms and the potential therapeutic application as clinical treatment for NAFLD. Herein, we adopted PubMed and Medline to search relevant keywords such as 'SCFAs', 'NAFLD', 'gut microbiota', 'Epigenetic', 'diet', and 'prebiotic effect' to review the latest research on SCFAs in NAFLD up to November 2023. In this review, firstly, we specifically discussed the production and function of SCFAs, as well as their crosstalk coordination in the gut liver axis. Secondly, we provided an updated summary and intensive discussion of how SCFAs affect hepatic steatosis to alleviate NAFLD from the perspective of genetic and epigenetic. Thirdly, we paid attention to the pharmacological and physiological characteristics of SCFAs, and proposed a promising future direction to adopt SCFAs alone or in combination with prebiotics and related clinical drugs to prevent and treat NAFLD. Together, this review aimed to elucidate the function of SCFAs and provide new insights to the prospects of SCFAs as a therapeutic target for NAFLD.
非酒精性脂肪性肝病（NAFLD）是一种与遗传、环境暴露和肠道微生物群代谢相关的应激性肝损伤。短链脂肪酸（SCFAs）是肠道微生物群（GM）的代谢产物，通过肠-肝轴参与肝脏脂肪变性和炎症的调节，在减轻NAFLD方面发挥重要作用。然而，在系统阐明SCFAs改善NAFLD的机制方面进展甚微，尤其是表观遗传机制以及作为NAFLD临床治疗的潜在治疗应用。在此，我们采用PubMed和Medline搜索了“SCFAs”、“NAFLD”、“肠道微生物群”、“表观遗传学”、“饮食”和“益生元效应”等相关关键词，以回顾截至2023年11月关于SCFAs在NAFLD中的最新研究。在本综述中，首先，我们具体讨论了SCFAs的产生和功能，以及它们在肠-肝轴中的相互作用协调。其次，我们从遗传和表观遗传学角度对SCFAs如何影响肝脏脂肪变性以减轻NAFLD进行了更新总结和深入讨论。第三，我们关注了SCFAs的药理和生理特性，并提出了一个有前景的未来方向，即单独使用SCFAs或与益生元和相关临床药物联合使用来预防和治疗NAFLD。总之，本综述旨在阐明SCFAs的功能，并为SCFAs作为NAFLD治疗靶点的前景提供新的见解。
