Intestinal Microbiota and NAFLD Pre and Post Bariatric Surgery

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) includes benign hepatic simple steatosis (SS) and steatohepatitis (NASH), which is characterised by inflammation leading to fibrosis and cirrhosis. NAFLD is the hepatic manifestation of the metabolic syndrome, and the prevalence is 74-98% in morbidly obese individuals undergoing bariatric surgery. Although steatosis improves post bariatric surgery, hepatic inflammation and fibrosis do not consistently improve. Alterations of the human gut flora (intestinal microbiota; IM) may play a role. One mechanism linking IM to obesity, insulin resistance (IR), and NAFLD is through translocation of bacterial lipopolisaccharide (LPS=endotoxin) into the blood stream (=endotoxemia), causing chronic inflammation. Morbidly obese subjects have different IM compared to lean controls, and the IM structure is significantly altered after bariatric surgery, probably due to a combination of anatomic changes, diet, and weight loss. For example, the ratio of Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes may be lower in obese subjects compared to lean controls and lower numbers of Faecalibacterium prausnitzii were reported in some obese subjects before bariatric surgery, which increased 3 months post-surgery. This is of interest since, in animal studies, low abundance of F. prausnitzii, a butyrate producing bacterium, is associated with increased intestinal permeability, endotoxemia, and inflammation. To our knowledge, only two studies are available describing IM in patients pre and post bariatric surgery, and no data have been published on the relationship between IM and NAFLD in these patients.