Effect of intestinal endotoxemia on hepatic energy metabolism in acute liver failure

AIM:To study the effect of intestinal endotoxemia(IETM) on hepatic energy metabolism in acute liver failure. METHODS:Intoxication by thioacetamide (TAA) was used to establish rat model of acute liver injury.Ketone body(acetoacetate and β-hydroxybutyrate) in arterial blood and ATP content of hepatocellular mitochondria were determined by using enzymatic fluorimetric micromethod.Colectomy was adopted in observing the changes in plasma endotoxin content and serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) activity. RESULTS:In the TAA group,plasma endotoxin content and serum ALT activity were all significantly higher than those in the control group(P＜0.01),arterial ketone body ratio of acetoacetate to β-hydroxybutyrate (AKBR) decreased below 0.4,total ketone body in arterial blood was significantly lower than that in the control group(P＜0.01).In the TAA+colectomy group,there was no endotoxemia to be found,ATP content of hepatocellular mitochondria was significantly higher than that in the TAA group(P＜0.01), though serum ALT activity was higher than that in the control group(P＜0.05),but significantly lower than that in the TAA group(P＜0.01). CONCLUSION:IETM played a key role in the occurrence of acute liver failure,hepatic dysfunction might be caused by IETM through damaging hepatic energy metabolism.