Yuan Zhang, Jason D Kang, Derrick Zhao, Siddartha S Ghosh, Yanyan Wang, Yunling Tai, Javier Gonzalez-Maeso, Masoumeh Sikaroodi, Patrick M Gillevet, H Robert Lippman, Phillip B Hylemon, Huiping Zhou, Jasmohan S Bajaj
BACKGROUND: Cirrhosis and hepatic encephalopathy (HE) are linked with an altered gut-liver-brain axis, however, the relative contribution of hepatic vagal innervation is unclear. We aimed to determine the impact of hepatic vagotomy on the gut microbiome, brain, and liver in murine cirrhosis. METHODS: 10-15-week-old male C57BL/6 mice with and without hepatic vagotomy underwent carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) gavage for 8 weeks. Frontal cortex [inflammation, glial/microglial activation, BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic factor)], liver [histology including inflammation and steatosis, fatty acid synthesis (sterol-responsive binding protein-1) SREBP-1, insulin-induced gene-2 (Insig2) and BDNF], and colonic mucosal microbiota (16srRNA microbial sequencing) were evaluated on sacrifice...
2021: Frontiers in Physiology