bims-liverm 2023-06-11 papers

Issue of 2023‒06‒11
four papers selected by
Marti Cadena Sandoval
Columbia University

Commun Biol. 2023 06 07. 6(1): 612

Physiological activation of human and mouse bitter taste receptors by bile acids.

Florian Ziegler, Alexandra Steuer, Antonella Di Pizio, Maik Behrens.

Beside the oral cavity, bitter taste receptors are expressed in several non-gustatory tissues. Whether extra-oral bitter taste receptors function as sensors for endogenous agonists is unknown. To address this question, we devised functional experiments combined with molecular modeling approaches to investigate human and mouse receptors using a variety of bile acids as candidate agonists. We show that five human and six mouse receptors are responsive to an array of bile acids. Moreover, their activation threshold concentrations match published data of bile acid concentrations in human body fluids, suggesting a putative physiological activation of non-gustatory bitter receptors. We conclude that these receptors could serve as sensors for endogenous bile acid levels. These results also indicate that bitter receptor evolution may not be driven solely by foodstuff or xenobiotic stimuli, but also depend on endogenous ligands. The determined bitter receptor activation profiles of bile acids now enable detailed physiological model studies.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-023-04971-3

Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). 2023 ;14 1154561

Hepatokines, bile acids and ketone bodies are novel Hormones regulating energy homeostasis.

Gabriella Garruti, Jacek Baj, Angelo Cignarelli, Sebastio Perrini, Francesco Giorgino.

Current views show that an impaired balance partly explains the fat accumulation leading to obesity. Fetal malnutrition and early exposure to endocrine-disrupting compounds also contribute to obesity and impaired insulin secretion and/or sensitivity. The liver plays a major role in systemic glucose homeostasis through hepatokines secreted by hepatocytes. Hepatokines influence metabolism through autocrine, paracrine, and endocrine signaling and mediate the crosstalk between the liver, non-hepatic target tissues, and the brain. The liver also synthetizes bile acids (BAs) from cholesterol and secretes them into the bile. After food consumption, BAs mediate the digestion and absorption of fat-soluble vitamins and lipids in the duodenum. In recent studies, BAs act not simply as fat emulsifiers but represent endocrine molecules regulating key metabolic pathways. The liver is also the main site of the production of ketone bodies (KBs). In prolonged fasting, the brain utilizes KBs as an alternative to CHO. In the last few years, the ketogenic diet (KD) became a promising dietary intervention. Studies on subjects undergoing KD show that KBs are important mediators of inflammation and oxidative stress. The present review will focus on the role played by hepatokines, BAs, and KBs in obesity, and diabetes prevention and management and analyze the positive effects of BAs, KD, and hepatokine receptor analogs, which might justify their use as new therapeutic approaches for metabolic and aging-related diseases.

Keywords: GPBAR1; bile acids; fasting; hepatokines; ketogenic diet

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fendo.2023.1154561

Blood Adv. 2023 Jun 05. pii: bloodadvances.2022009618. [Epub ahead of print]

Secondary bile acids function through the vitamin D receptor in myeloid progenitors to promote myelopoiesis.

Brandon Thompson, Shan Lu, Julio Revilla, Md Jashim Uddin, David N Oakland, Savannah Grace Brovero, Sunduz Keles, Emery H Bresnick, William A Petri, Stacey L Burgess.

Metabolic products of the microbiota can alter hematopoiesis. However, the contribution and site of action of bile acids is poorly understood. Here we demonstrate that the secondary bile acids, deoxycholic acid (DCA) and lithocholic acid (LCA), increase bone marrow myelopoiesis. Treatment of bone marrow cells with DCA and LCA preferentially expanded immunophenotypic and functional (CFU-GM) granulocyte-monocyte progenitors (GMPs). DCA treatment of sorted hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells (HSPCs) increased CFU-GMs, indicating that direct exposure of HSPCs to DCA sufficed to increase GMPs. The vitamin D receptor (VDR) was required for the DCA-induced increase in CFU-GMs and GMPs. Single-cell RNA sequencing revealed that DCA significantly upregulated genes associated with myeloid differentiation and proliferation in GMPs. The action of DCA on HSPCs to expand GMPs in a VDR-dependent manner suggests microbiome-host interactions may directly impact bone marrow hematopoiesis and potentially the severity of infectious and inflammatory disease.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1182/bloodadvances.2022009618

NPJ Biofilms Microbiomes. 2023 Jun 07. 9(1): 35

Impaired flux of bile acids from the liver to the gut reveals microbiome-immune interactions associated with liver damage.

Howell Leung, Ling Xiong, Yueqiong Ni, Anne Busch, Michael Bauer, Adrian T Press, Gianni Panagiotou.

Currently, there is evidence that alteration in the gut ecosystem contributes to the development of liver diseases, however, the complex mechanisms involved are still unclear. We induced cholestasis in mice by bile duct ligation (BDL), mirroring the phenotype of a bile duct obstruction, to understand how gut microbiota alterations caused by an impaired flow of bile acid to the gut contribute to the pathogenesis and progression of liver disease. We performed longitudinal stool, heart, and liver sampling using mice receiving BDL and controls receiving sham operation (ShamOP). Shotgun metagenomics profiling using fecal samples taken before and on day 1, day 3, and day 7 after surgery was performed, and the cytokines and clinical chemistry profiles from heart blood, as well as the liver bile acids profile, were measured. The BDL surgery reshaped the microbiome of mice, resulting in highly distinct characteristics compared to the ShamOP. Our analysis of the microbiome pathways and ECs revealed that BDL reduces the production of hepatoprotective compounds in the gut, such as biotin, spermidine, arginine, and ornithine, which were negatively associated with inflammatory cytokines (IL-6, IL-23, MCP-1). The reduction of the functional potential of the gut microbiota in producing those hepatoprotective compounds is associated with the decrease of beneficial bacteria species from Anaerotruncus, Blautia, Eubacterium, and Lachnoclostridium genera, as well as the increase of disease-associated bacteria e.g., Escherichia coli and Entercoccus faecalis. Our findings advances our knowledge of the gut microbiome-bile acids-liver triangle, which may serve as a potential therapeutic strategy for liver diseases.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41522-023-00398-0