Ethanol abuse and chronic ethanol consumption remains a major public health problem and is responsible for a high rate of morbidity. Alcohol-induced fatty liver generally begins as hepatic steatosis, and if the cause persists, this invariably progresses to steatohepatitis and cirrhosis. The original biochemical explanation for an alcoholic fatty liver centered on the ability of ethanol metabolism to shift the redox state of the liver and inhibit fatty acid oxidation. Subsequent studies found repression of fatty acid oxidation and that the induction of lipogenesis can occur in alcoholic conditions. Ethanol activates sterol regulatory element binding protein 1, inducing a battery of lipogenic enzymes. These effects may be due in part to inhibition of AMP-dependent protein kinase, reduction in plasma adiponectin or increased levels of TNF-α the liver. They in turn activate lipogenic pathways and inhibit fatty acid oxidation. Besides the fatty acid synthesis and oxidation, ethanol also alters lipid droplet (LD, the storage form of triglycerides, TG) metabolism in hepatocytes and very low-density lipoprotein (VLDL) secretion from liver. Because steatosis is now regarded as a significant risk factor for advanced liver pathology, an understanding of the molecular mechanisms in its etiology provides new therapeutic targets to reverse the alcoholic fatty liver.

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One strategy for enhancing the establishment of probiotic bacteria in the human intestinal tract is via the parallel administration of a prebiotic, which is referred to as a synbiotic. Here we present a novel method that allows a rational selection of putative probiotic strains to be used in synbiotic applications: in vivo selection (IVS). This method consists of isolating candidate probiotic strains from fecal samples following enrichment with the respective prebiotic. To test the potential of IVS, we isolated bifidobacteria from human subjects who consumed increasing doses of galactooligosaccharides (GOS) for 9 weeks. A retrospective analysis of the fecal microbiota of one subject revealed an 8-fold enrichment in Bifidobacterium adolescentis strain IVS-1 during GOS administration. The functionality of GOS to support the establishment of IVS-1 in the gastrointestinal tract was then evaluated in rats administered the bacterial strain alone, the prebiotic alone, or the synbiotic combination. Strain-specific quantitative real-time PCR showed that the addition of GOS increased B. adolescentis IVS-1 abundance in the distal intestine by nearly 2 logs compared to rats receiving only the probiotic. Illumina 16S rRNA sequencing not only confirmed the increased establishment of IVS-1 in the intestine but also revealed that the strain was able to outcompete the resident Bifidobacterium population when provided with GOS. In conclusion, this study demonstrated that IVS can be used to successfully formulate a synergistic synbiotic that can substantially enhance the establishment and competitiveness of a putative probiotic strain in the gastrointestinal tract.T he mechanistic role of the gastrointestinal (GI) microbiota and its metabolites in maintaining human health has been well demonstrated (1-3). Gut microbes provide several important benefits for their host, including provision of nutrients, development and maturation of the immune system, and protection against pathogens via colonization resistance (4). However, the gut microbiota may also contribute to obesity, inflammatory and autoimmune diseases, and other chronic disease states (5-7). Such diseases are often associated with compositional alterations in the fecal microbiota, a condition referred to as "dysbiosis" (8). Given that the presence of specific types of bacteria and their relative abundance within the gut are considered to affect host health, there is much interest in devising strategies that modulate gut microbiota composition and potentially redress disease-related dysbiotic patterns (9).Dietary approaches currently available to modulate the gut microbiota include prebiotics (10-12), fermentable fibers (13, 14), probiotics (or live biotherapeutics) (15), and synbiotics, which are a combination of a probiotic and a prebiotic (11, 16). According to Kolida and Gibson (16), synbiotics can be either complementary or synergistic. Complementary synbiotics consist of a probiotic and a prebiotic selected to independently confer benefits to the host. In contrast, sy...

Alcohol consumption is a well‐established risk factor for the onset and progression of fatty liver disease. An estimated 90% of heavy drinkers are thought to develop significant liver steatosis. For these reasons, an increased understanding of the molecular basis for alcohol‐induced hepatic steatosis is important. It has become clear that autophagy, a catabolic process of intracellular degradation and recycling, plays a key role in hepatic lipid metabolism. We have shown that Rab7, a small guanosine triphosphatase known to regulate membrane trafficking, acts as a key orchestrator of hepatocellular lipophagy, a selective form of autophagy in which lipid droplets (LDs) are specifically targeted for turnover by the autophagic machinery. Nutrient starvation results in Rab7 activation on the surface of the LD and lysosomal compartments, resulting in the mobilization of triglycerides stored within the LDs for energy production. Here, we examine whether the steatotic effects of alcohol exposure are a result of perturbations to the Rab7‐mediated lipophagic pathway. Rats chronically fed an ethanol‐containing diet accumulated significantly higher levels of fat in their hepatocytes. Interestingly, hepatocytes isolated from these ethanol‐fed rats contained juxtanuclear lysosomes that exhibited impaired motility. These changes are similar to those we observed in Rab7‐depleted hepatocytes. Consistent with these defects in the lysosomal compartment, we observed a marked 80% reduction in Rab7 activity in cultured hepatocytes as well as a complete block in starvation‐induced Rab7 activation in primary hepatocytes isolated from chronic ethanol‐fed animals. Conclusion: A mechanism is supported whereby ethanol exposure inhibits Rab7 activity, resulting in the impaired transport, targeting, and fusion of the autophagic machinery with LDs, leading to an accumulation of hepatocellular lipids and hepatic steatosis. (Hepatology Communications 2017;1:140‐152)