When a portion of the body liver is removed, The body replaces the missing tissue; recently, Published in a study entitled "Gut microbiota promote liver regeneration through hepatic membrane phospholipid biosynthesis" in the international journal Journal of Hepatology, Scientists from institutions such as the University of Munich in Germany have found that, The success of the above processes may depend largely on the gut flora of the body, It may help improve the prognosis of liver surgery in patients with liver cancer and other diseases.
The human liver is surprisingly regenerative, unlike the heart; the underlying mechanism is a good example of the role of the gut flora in other organogenesis, and researchers worked together to prove this. The healthy gut microbiome includes multiple types of bacteria that play an active role in digestion, some of which gut flora break down carbohydrates into short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) that liver cells need to grow and divide; the researchers have revealed for the first time that gut flora affects lipid metabolism in liver cells and their ability to regenerate.
Researchers Janssen et al. determined how the disrupted microbiome affected the regeneration of the liver. In animals that interfered with the gut microbiota with antibiotics, the researchers found that the formation of new liver cells was significantly delayed. Scientists are now aware of the link between antibiotics and disrupted liver regeneration, which was previously attributed to an immune response or harmful side effects on the liver cells; the researchers only began to find a mechanical link with the gut flora based on studies of antibiotic-treated mice in mice born lacking the microbiome. Antibiotics don't kill all of the gut flora, the researchers explained, but therapies change the composition of the microbiome, and the remaining bacterial community produces fewer short-chain fatty acids, which usually recover within a few weeks of the antibiotic therapy.
The current results suggest that liver regeneration also occurs in the organism of animals treated with antibiotics, but there is a significant delay. Liver regeneration does not occur in mice lacking gut flora; however, the researchers could stimulate liver regeneration by using precisely defined microbiome initiators (microbiome starter set). In the study, the researchers used an organoid of mouse cells (essentially tiny liver tissue in plates) and found that SCFAs provides the necessary components of liver cell membranes, and that cells refused to grow and reproduce if SCFAs were not present and abundant. An enzyme called SCD 1 becomes particularly active when cells proliferate due to sufficient fatty acids; researchers investigated these processes using human liver cells and tissue samples and found that SCD 1 is also very active in the human body when the liver regenerates.
Researcher Klaus-Peter Janssen said it is important to remember that the role of the gut flora is highly complex and there may be a long way to grow before it is fully understood; therefore, this study does not provide specific advice for further action or drug development, but the results may help researchers clarify which microbiome composition provides better conditions for liver regeneration. Clinicians will then be able to analyze the patient's gut flora to determine whether the conditions are good for surgery, or to wait for the body's microbiome to recover, or to provide a specific dietary model to affect the body's recovery.
Clinicians can analyze the microbiome of the liver after surgery, which may be why scientists need further research; the present results show that intestinal flora is crucial for the biosynthesis of the liver membrane phospholipid and the regeneration process of the liver.
