Relations of gut liver axis components and gut microbiota in obese children with fatty liver: A pilot study

studyThe prevalence of metabolic syndrome and its hepaticcomponent — non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) —has increased alarmingly, paralleling the worldwide obe-sity epidemics. The pathophysiology of NAFLD is not clearlyunderstood, but it has been proposed to be the result ofmultiple ‘‘hits’’. A number of studies increasingly sup-ports the pathogenetic role also of the gut microbiota (GM)both in NAFLD onset and progression. In this respect, GMwould exert its noxious effects through the dysfunction ofthe gut-liver axis (GLA), which includes some or all of the fol-lowing components: increased intestinal permeability (IP),endogenous ethanol (ETOH) and systemic endotoxin (LPS)concentrations. We studied 10 Ob Italian children, consecutivelyrecruited at our center after parental agreement and writ-ten informed consent. The inclusion criteria were age 8—13years, and a body mass index (BMI) > 97th percentile. Sixnon-Ob and non-overweight (BMI < 85th percentile), healthynormal-weight (NW) controls with normal anthropomet-ric, clinical, laboratory and ultrasonographic (US) hepaticparameters and no other associated diseases were recruitedamong patients of the Pediatric Surgery Section listed forelective minor surgery.