Blocking ileal bile acid uptake safeguards against NAFLD
In a new study, Saul Karpen and colleagues investigated the effect of SC-435 — an oral, non-systemically absorbed ASBT inhibitor — on diet-induced NAFLD in mice. “Interference with the uptake of bile acids in the distal intestine was predicted to reduce liver cholesterol content, alter whole-body glucose metabolism (perhaps through glucagon-like peptide 1) and change bile acid metabolism by the liver, intestine and microbiota,” explains Karpen. To test whether ASBT inhibition could prevent NAFLD, the researchers fed mice a NAFLD-inducing diet (a so-called 'American lifestyle diet' (ALD), comprising a high-fat diet with ad libitum access to sucrose water) for 16 weeks, with or without SC-435.