Partially hydrolyzed guar gum alleviates hepatic steatosis and alters specific gut microbiota in a murine liver injury model

Purpose The gut microbiota, via the gut-liver axis, plays an important role in the development of intestinal failure-associated liver disease. Here, we investigated whether partially hydrolyzed guar gum (PHGG), a dietary fiber could alleviate liver damage and modulate the gut microbiota in a murine liver injury (LI) model. Methods Liver injury was induced in 6-week-old male C57BL/6 mice using an enteral liquid diet composed of parenteral nutrition (LI group) and treated with 5% PHGG (LI/PHGG group). Liver histopathology was examined using oil red O and a tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) labeling. The gut microbiota was examined using 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Results Lipid accumulation was significantly decreased in the LI /PHGG group when compared with that of the LI group. The area of TNF-α-positive cells was significantly higher in the LI group when compared with that of the control. The principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) revealed pronounced changes in the gut microbiota after PHGG treatment. Linear discriminant analysis of effect size showed that PHGG treatment significantly increased cecal abundance of Parabacteroides . Conclusions PHGG alleviated hepatic steatosis following liver injury in mice. The protective effect of PHGG treatment could be associated with increased abundance of Parabacteroides in the cecum.