Binge drinking, the most common form of alcohol consumption, is associated with increased mortality and morbidity; yet, its biological consequences are poorly defined. Previous studies demonstrated that chronic alcohol use results in increased gut permeability and increased serum endotoxin levels that contribute to many of the biological effects of chronic alcohol, including alcoholic liver disease. In this study, we evaluated the effects of acute binge drinking in healthy adults on serum endotoxin levels. We found that acute alcohol binge resulted in a rapid increase in serum endotoxin and 16S rDNA, a marker of bacterial translocation from the gut. Compared to men, women had higher blood alcohol and circulating endotoxin levels. In addition, alcohol binge caused a prolonged increase in acute phase protein levels in the systemic circulation. The biological significance of the in vivo endotoxin elevation was underscored by increased levels of inflammatory cytokines, TNFα and IL-6, and chemokine, MCP-1, measured in total blood after in vitro lipopolysaccharide stimulation. Our findings indicate that even a single alcohol binge results in increased serum endotoxin levels likely due to translocation of gut bacterial products and disturbs innate immune responses that can contribute to the deleterious effects of binge drinking.
‘Detoxification’ of gut-derived toxins and microbial products from gut-derived microbes is a major role of the liver. While the full repertoire of gut-derived microbial products that reach the liver in health and disease is yet to be explored, the levels of bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS), a component of Gram-negative bacteria, is increased in the portal and/or systemic circulation in several types of chronic liver diseases. Increased gut permeability and LPS play a role in alcoholic liver disease where alcohol impairs the gut epithelial integrity through alterations in tight junction proteins. In addition, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease is also associated with increased serum LPS levels and activation of the pro-inflammatory cascade plays a central role in disease progression. Microbial danger signals are recognized by pattern recognition receptors such as the Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4). Increasing evidence suggests that TLR4-mediated signaling via the MyD88-dependent or MyD88-independent pathways may play different roles in liver diseases associated with increased LPS exposure of the liver as a result of gut permeability. For example, we showed that in alcoholic liver disease, the MyD88-independent, IRF3-dependent TLR4 cascade plays a role in steatosis and inflammation. Our recent data demonstrate that chronic alcohol exposure in the liver leads to sensitization of Kupffer cells to LPS via a mechanism involving upregulation of microRNA-155 in Kupffer cells. Thus, understanding the cell-specific recognition and intracellular signaling events in sensing gut-derived microbes will help to achieve an optimal balance in the gut-liver axis and ameliorate liver diseases.
A central paradox in type 2 diabetes is the apparent selective nature of hepatic insulin resistance-wherein insulin fails to suppress hepatic glucose production yet continues to stimulate lipogenesis, resulting in hyperglycemia, hyperlipidemia, and hepatic steatosis. Although efforts to explain this have focused on finding a branch point in insulin signaling where hepatic glucose and lipid metabolism diverge, we hypothesized that hepatic triglyceride synthesis could be driven by substrate, independent of changes in hepatic insulin signaling. We tested this hypothesis in rats by infusing [U-13 C] palmitate to measure rates of fatty acid esterification into hepatic triglyceride while varying plasma fatty acid and insulin concentrations independently. These experiments were performed in normal rats, high fat-fed insulin-resistant rats, and insulin receptor 2′-O-methoxyethyl chimeric antisense oligonucleotide-treated rats. Rates of fatty acid esterification into hepatic triglyceride were found to be dependent on plasma fatty acid infusion rates, independent of changes in plasma insulin concentrations and independent of hepatocellular insulin signaling. Taken together, these results obviate a paradox of selective insulin resistance, because the major source of hepatic lipid synthesis, esterification of preformed fatty acids, is primarily dependent on substrate delivery and largely independent of hepatic insulin action.nonalcoholic fatty liver disease | hepatic insulin resistance | lipogenesis | esterification | mass spectrometry
Pigment epithelium-derived factor (PEDF), the protein product of the SERPINF1 gene, has been linked to distinct diseases involving adipose or bone tissue, the metabolic syndrome, and osteogenesis imperfecta (OI) type VI. Since mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) differentiation into adipocytes vs. osteoblasts can be regulated by specific factors, PEDF-directed dependency of murine and human MSCs was assessed. PEDF inhibited adipogenesis and promoted osteoblast differentiation of murine MSCs, osteoblast precursors, and human MSCs. Blockade of adipogenesis by PEDF suppressed peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ (PPARγ), adiponectin, and other adipocyte markers by nearly 90% compared with control-treated cells (P<0.001). Differentiation to osteoblasts by PEDF resulted in a common pathway that involved PPARγ suppression (P<0.01). Canonical Wnt-β-catenin signaling results in a MSC differentiation pattern analogous to that seen with PEDF. Thus, adding PEDF enhanced Wnt-β-catenin signal transduction in human MSCs, demonstrating a novel Wnt agonist function. In PEDF knockout (KO) mice, total body adiposity was increased by >50% compared with controls, illustrating its systemic role as a negative regulator of adipogenesis. Bones from KO mice demonstrated a reduction in mineral content recapitulating the OI type VI phenotype. These results demonstrate that the human diseases associated with PEDF reflect its ability to modulate MSC differentiation.
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