Intestinal microbiota significantly alters hepatic expression of energy metabolism genes in mice with acute cholestasis

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Intestinal mucus and gut-vascular barrier: FxR-modulated entry sites for pathological bacterial translocation in liver cirrhosis

AbstractBackground and aimsPathological bacterial translocation (PBT) in liver cirrhosis (LC) is the hallmark for spontaneous bacterial infections increasing mortality several-fold. Factors known to contribute to PBT in LC are among others an increased intestinal permeability of which however, the mucus layer has not been addressed so far in detail. A clear route of translocation for luminal intestinal bacteria is yet to be defined but we hypothesize that the recently described gut vascular barrier (GVB) is impaired in experimental portal hypertension leading to increased accessibility of the vascular compartment for translocating bacteria.ResultsHealthy and pre-hepatic portal-hypertensive (PPVL) mice lack translocation of FITC-dextran and GFP-Escherichia colifrom the small intestine to the liver whereas bile-duct-ligated (BDL) and CCl4-induced cirrhotic mice demonstrate pathological translocation which is not altered by prior thoracic-duct ligation. Mucus layer is reduced in thickness with loss of goblet-cells and Muc2-staining and expression in cirrhotic but not PPVL-mice associated with bacterial overgrowth in inner mucus layer and pathological translocation of GFP-E.colithrough the ileal epithelium. GVB is profoundly altered in BDL and CCl4-mice with Ileal extravasation of large-sized 150 kDa-FITC-dextran but only minor in PPVL-mice. This pathological endothelial permeability and accessibility in cirrhotic mice associates with an augmented expression of PV1 in intestinal vessels. OCA but not fexaramine stabilizes the GVB whereas both FXR-agonists ameliorate gut-liver-translocation of GFP-E.coli.ConclusionsLiver cirrhosis but not portal hypertension per se grossly impairs the endothelial and muco-epithelial barriers promoting PBT to the portal-venous circulation. Both barriers appear FXR-modulated with –agonists reducing PBT via the portal-venous route.</jats:sec

Systems-level metabolism of the Altered Schaedler Flora, a complete gut microbiota

The Altered Schaedler Flora (ASF) is a model microbial community with both in vivo and in vitro relevance. Here we provide the first characterization of the ASF community in vitro, independent of a murine host. We compared the functional genetic content of the ASF to wild murine metagenomes and found that the ASF functionally represents wild microbiomes better than random consortia of similar taxonomic composition. We developed a chemically-defined medium that supported growth of seven of the eight ASF members. To elucidate the metabolic capabilities of these ASF species—including potential for interactions such as cross feeding—we performed a spent media screen and analyzed the results through dynamic growth measurements and non-targeted metabolic profiling. We found that cross-feeding is relatively rare (32 of 3 570 possible cases), but is enriched between Clostridium ASF356 and Parabacteroides ASF519. We identified many cases of emergent metabolism (856 of 3 570 possible cases). These data will inform efforts to understand ASF dynamics and spatial distribution in vivo, to design pre- and probiotics that modulate relative abundances of ASF members, and will be essential for validating computational models of ASF metabolism. Well-characterized, experimentally tractable microbial communities enable research that can translate into more effective microbiome-targeted therapies to improve human health