ABSTRACT
Acute decompensated cirrhosis is a stage of end-stage liver disease during which patients often experience decompensated complications and rapid progression. Systemic inflammatory response is characterized by excessive secretion of inflammatory factors caused by bacterial infection of local tissue and rapid spread to the whole body, thereby affecting the physiological activities of the body and causing organ damage or disorder, and it is a relatively serious inflammatory state. This article elaborates on the occurrence of systemic inflammation, the factors affecting the severity of systemic inflammation, the manifestation of systemic inflammation in different stages of decompensated cirrhosis, and the role of systemic inflammation in complications, in order to gain a deeper understanding of systemic inflammation and apply it in the research and development of new therapies and drugs.
ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the effect of Liangxue Jiedu decoction on intestinal flora in patients with hepatitis B virus-related acute-on-chronic liver failure (HBV-ACLF). Methods The patients who were hospitalized and diagnosed with HBV-ACLF in Beijing Ditan Hospital from October 2018 to October 2019 were enrolled, and healthy individuals were enrolled as HP group. High-throughput sequencing was used to screen for the differences in bacterial diversity and species between HBV-ACLF patients and healthy individuals, and differentially expressed bacteria between the two groups were screened out at the phylum and genus levels. With the help of in vitro simulated fermentation experiment, fecal samples were collected from the patients with HBV-ACLF and were then cultured in the medium containing different concentrations of Liangxue Jiedu decoction (0, 10%, 50%, and 100%) for 24 hours, and the changes in intestinal flora were analyzed and compared between the HBV-ACLF treatment group, the HBV-ACLF non-treatment group, and the HP group at the genus level. The t -test was used for comparison of normally distributed continuous data between two groups, and the Mann-Whitney U test was used for comparison of non-normally distributed continuous data between two groups. Results A total of 10 HBV-ACLF patients were enrolled, with 5 in the HBV-ACLF treatment group and 5 in the HBV-ACLF non-treatment group, and there were 15 individuals in the HP group. Compared with the HP group, the HBV-ACLF non-treatment group had significant reductions in the diversity and abundance of intestinal flora. At the phylum level, Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes were mainly observed in the samples of the HP group, while the HBV-ACLF non-treatment group had a significant reduction in Bacteroidetes and significant increases in Fusobacteria , Proteobacteria , and Fibrobacteres. At the genus level, compared with the HP group, the HBV-ACLF non-treatment group had significant reductions in Ruminococcus, Blautia , and Eubacterium and significant increases in Parabacteroides, Lactobacillus, Fusobacterium , and Streptococcus . The in vitro fermentation experiment showed that compared with the HBV-ACLF non-treatment group, the HBV-ACLF treatment group had significant increases in Ruminococcus, Lachnospira, Bacteroides , and Genusgenus and significant reductions in Fusobacterium and Proteobacteria (all P < 0.05). Conclusion Liangxue Jiedu decoction can regulate intestinal flora disturbance, restore the diversity of intestinal flora, increase dominant bacteria, and reduce pathogenic bacteria, which may be one of its important mechanisms of action in the treatment of HBV-ACLF.
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In recent years, extensive studies have been conducted on the pathogenesis of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), and the action of mechanism of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in NAFLD has become a new research topic. TCM has achieved good clinical efficacy in the treatment of NAFLD, with the advantages of specific, flexible, multilevel, and multi-target treatment. This article introduces the role of TCM in improving insulin, regulating lipid metabolism, preventing lipid peroxidation, regulating cytokines, regulating and maintaining the dynamic balance of factors involved in lipid metabolism, and maintaining the balance of intestinal microflora, and analyzes the major problems in TCM research.
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BACKGROUND: When the liver affected severe damage or excalation, liver stem cells rapidly proliferated and differentiated into mature liver cells to repair liver tissue. However, liver regeneration is a complicated multiple signal molecular regulatory process and related genes and proteins that participated in regulation remain unclear. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the expressions of CD34 and Delta-like-1 protein in rat liver regenerated tissues after partial hepatectomy. METHODS: Rat hepatic regeneration models were established after hepatectomy. Expressions of ATPase, proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA), CD34 and Delta-like-1 protein were detected by hematoxylin-eosin staining, enzyme-histochemistry and immunohistochemistry method at various time points. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: At the early stage of liver regeneration, the expression of ATPase was down-regulated, and the expressions of CD34 and Delta-like-1 protein were up-regulated. At the middle stage, the expression of ATPase was increased to the normal level, and the expressions of CD34 and Delta-like-1 protein were down-regulated. The expression of PCNA protein was continuously up-regulated. These suggest that the expressions of ATPase, CD34 and Delta-like-1 protein were different at different stages of hepatic regeneration, which means that different signal molecules were cooperated during the hepatic regeneration, and Notch-Delta signal pathway takes part in the pathogenesy.