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International Journal of Food Sciences and Nutrition 
Volume 74, 2023 - Issue 7

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Editorial

Gut-liver axis: may prebiotics play a role?

Samuele Laudani & Giuseppe Grosso 
Pages 719-720 | Received 17 Oct 2023, Accepted 18 Oct 2023, Published online: 31 Oct 2023

 Cite this article  https://doi.org/10.1080/09637486.2023.2274274

 Full Article  Figures & data  References  Citations  Metrics

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In the last few years, an increased number of studies have investigated the role of the
gut microbiota on the healthy/unhealthy state of the host: gut microbiota alterations
have been correlated with several health conditions diseases such as neurodegenerative
disorders (Roy Sarkar and Banerjee 2019), obesity (Gual-Grau et al. 2022), irritable bowel
disease (El-Salhy et al. 2019), and cardiovascular disease (Rahman et al. 2022). Less
extreme effects of gut microbiota alterations include bloating, abdominal distension,
and other symptoms often characterising irritable bowel syndrome (Ford et al. 2020).
Such discomfort is due to microbial fermentation of food components that reach the far

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5/21/24, 3:07 PM Full article: Gut-liver axis: may prebiotics play a role?

end of the small bowel and colon, namely fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides,
monosaccharides, and polyols (Ford et al. 2020). This evidence has underlined the
importance of identifying mechanisms to modulate and interfere with the microbiota
composition and function in order to affect human health and disease. In this regard,
controlled prebiotic administration has been identified as a promising intervention to
modulate microbial composition.

In this latest issue, Silva et al. (2023) published interesting results investigating the
effects of prebiotics galactooligosaccharides (GOS) and fructooligosaccharides (FOS) on
metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH). In this work, mice received a
traditional diet or a high-fat diet (HFD) for 18 weeks, which was supplemented or not
with the combination of prebiotics. Results demonstrated that HFD leads to alteration in
metabolic parameters and insulin resistance as well as alteration in liver histopathology
(Silva et al. 2023). Indeed, the HFD group showed hepatocytes with macro- and
microvesicular steatosis combined with increased liver lipid deposition and extensive
fibrosis compared to the control group (Silva et al. 2023). Prebiotic supplementation
leads to a significant improvement in hepatic architecture and a significant reduction in
lipid deposition and a significant reduction of fibrosis (Silva et al. 2023). Furthermore,
increased steatosis leads to a significant reduction in liver function and an increase in
serum aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) activities
(Silva et al. 2023), which are indicative in the diagnosis and evaluation of liver disease
(Kim et al. 2008). Even in this case, FOS/GOS supplementation significantly reduced ALT
and AST levels (Silva et al. 2023). Furthermore, authors found increased expression of
lipogenic markers, sterol regulatory element binding protein-1c (SREBP-1c), acetyl-CoA
carboxylase (ACC), and fatty acid synthase (FAS), which were reduced by prebiotic
administration (Silva et al. 2023). Moreover, GOS/FOS supplementation resulted in
increased expression of the lipolytic marker, adipose triglyceride lipase (ATGL), indicating
a positive activation of the lipolytic pathway (Silva et al. 2023). Since MASH is associated
with increased inflammation (Cobbina and Akhlaghi 2017), da Silva et al. evaluated
inflammatory levels confirming that HFD was associated with increased levels of
interleukin (IL)-6, IL-1beta, TNF-alpha, iNOS, COX2, phospho-NF-kB, and nitrotyrosine,

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5/21/24, 3:07 PM Full article: Gut-liver axis: may prebiotics play a role?

which were reduced after prebiotic administration (Silva et al. 2023). They also
discovered that GOS/FOS administration was sufficient to restore gut integrity
compromised by HFD (Silva et al. 2023). Really interesting is also the effect of prebiotic
administration on gut microbiota composition. Indeed, while HFD leads to an increased
level of Firmicutes, prebiotic administration promotes Bacteroidetes augmentation with
a significant increase of the species Bacteroides acidifaciens and Bacteroides dorei, which
are both acetate-producer bacteria (Silva et al. 2023). This is an important result since
acetate can regulate the central nervous system to control appetite (Frost et al. 2014).
For this reason, authors investigated if changes in the arcuate nucleus could be
detected. Results showed a significant reduction in POMC/GPR43 positive neurons,
which were restored after prebiotic administration (Silva et al. 2023).

Even though prebiotics administration does not always change the composition and
activity of the gut in a predictable manner (Bindels et al. 2015), it is an easier way to try
to modulate the microbiota alongside with the overall dietary choices. Dietary sources of
prebiotics include fruit and vegetables such as asparagus, leek, banana, chicory, and
grains, such as oats and wheat, which are little consumed in the most diffused Western
diet (Cryan et al. 2019). In this regard, many other studies corroborate the results
obtained by da Silva et al., demonstrating that microbiota modulation through prebiotic
intake can reduce colitis in rats due to the increase in Lactobacillus composition (Videla
et al. 2001), increase anti-inflammatory cytokines (Vulevic et al. 2015) and reduce stress-
induced corticosterone release combined with a significant increase in acetate and
propionate production in mice (Burokas et al. 2017; Mohamed EL Kafoury et al. 2023). In
conclusion, due to the great involvement of the gut microbiota in many pathologies, the
use of prebiotics to modulate microbial composition could be a promising intervention
to treat different aspects of many pathologies. This is eased by the possibility of
introducing prebiotics through changing diet composition and increasing the
consumption of foods rich in prebiotics.

Disclosure statement
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09637486.2023.2274274?src=most-read-last-year 3/8
5/21/24, 3:07 PM Full article: Gut-liver axis: may prebiotics play a role?

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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