Fecal microbiota transplantation alleviates high-fat and high-sugar diet-induced fatty liver in mice

Around the world, Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has become the most frequent chronic liver disease. Fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) is a successful method for rebuilding gut flora and has been applied in treating and researching various microbiome-related conditions like inflammatory bowel disease. FMT is considered a breakthrough medical development in recent years, but further research is needed in NAFLD-related areas. Mice were randomized into control, high-fat and high-sugar diet (HFCS) and HFCS + FMT groups. A mouse model of NAFLD was established on a high-fat and high-sugar diet for 20 weeks, followed by FMT for 8 weeks. After 8 weeks of FMT initiation, serum, liver tissue specimens and feces of mice were collected for biochemical experiments, histopathology and molecular biology to obtain experimental data and statistical analysis. Our results showed that Firmicutes and Bacteriae significantly increased and bifidobacteria significantly decreased in mice fed HFCS. After FMT treatment, the abundance of the above bacteria was changed, and the composition of the above bacteria in the gut was close to that of the normal diet group. FMT reduced body weight in mice and improved serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and total cholesterol (TC) levels. The significant decrease of intrahepatic proinflammatory cytokines and liver pathology showed that hepatitis was relieved after FMT. These data indicate that High-fat and high-sugar diet can induce NAFLD in mice and change the structure of intestinal flora. NAFLD was alleviated by correcting intestinal flora with FMT.