Background/Aims@#
Sarcopenia is an independent
prognostic factor of
liver cirrhosis (LC). However, the
association between LC-related systemic
inflammation and
sarcopenia is unclear. @*
Methods@#
Sprague-Dawley rats were treated with
thioacetamide (TAA) or saline as a control.
Rifaximin was administered to TAA-induced LC
rats.
Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was performed to
measure inflammatory mediators in
rat serum. RT-PCR was performed to
measure the molecular expression in
tissues.
Hematoxylin and
eosin (H&E)
staining and
immunohistochemistry were performed to investigate
tissue pathology.
Serum tumor necrosis factor-α levels,
liver stiffness (LS), and the L3
skeletal muscle index (L3SMI) were measured in 60
patients with chronic
liver disease. @*Results@#LC and
sarcopenia were successfully induced by TAA.
Serum TNF-α levels were increased in LC
rats and correlated with
myostatin expression,
muscle weight, and myofiber diameter. The expression of intestinal
occludin and
zona occludens-1 was reduced in LC
rats and associated with
serum TNF-α levels and
sarcopenia. In
patients with LS ≥7 kPa or
sarcopenia,
serum TNF-α levels were significantly increased, which was also confirmed when we raised the LS cutoff to 10 kPa. The L3SMI was inversely correlated with
serum TNF-α levels in
patients with LS ≥7 kPa. TNF-α was reduced by
rifaximin, which might have resulted in reduced expression of muscular MuRF1 and
myostatin and improvements in myofiber diameters within
muscle tissues. @*Conclusions@#These results suggest that
serum TNF-α is associated with LC-related
sarcopenia.
Rifaximin might be effective in reducing
serum TNF-α levels and improving
sarcopenia in LC, but these results need to be validated in
future studies.