Impaired intestinal defensin production leads to bacterial translocation and subsequently aggravates hepatic inflammation and fibrogenesis in an experimental NASH model – a new se…

Aims: Increased intestinal permeability and bacterial overgrowth and are pathophysiological factors of NASH in patients and in experimental models. Recently, we developed a new experimental setting combining a dietary NASH model with a model of chronic colitis, induced by application of dextran sulphate sodium (DSS), in order to study the liver-gut axis. Aim: The aim of the current study was to investigate the mechanism of bacterial translocation in our model, i.e. whether expression of intestinal antimicrobial peptides was altered. Methods and Results: Male C57bl/6 mice (n=6) were randomly allocated into four e…