OBJECTIVE The gut microbiota has been implicated as an environmental factor that modulates obesity, and recent evidence suggests that microbiota-mediated changes in bile acid profiles and signalling through the bile acid nuclear receptor farnesoid X receptor (FXR) contribute to impaired host metabolism. Here we investigated if the gut microbiota modulates obesity and associated phenotypes throu...

Farnesoid X receptor (FXR) is a nuclear hormone receptor involved in bile acid synthesis and homeostasis. Dysfunction of FXR is involved in cholestasis and atherosclerosis. FXR is prevalent in liver, gallbladder, and intestine, but it is not yet clear whether it modulates neurobehavior. In the current study, we tested the hypothesis that mouse FXR deficiency affects a specific subset of neurotr...

Alcoholic liver disease encompasses a wide spectrum of pathogenesis including steatosis, fibrosis, cirrhosis, and alcoholic steatohepatitis. Autophagy is a lysosomal degradation process that degrades cellular proteins and damaged/excess organelles, and serves as a protective mechanism in response to various stresses. Acute alcohol treatment induces autophagy via FoxO3a-mediated autophagy gene e...

Cholic acid (CA) feeding of farnesoid X receptor (Fxr)-null mice results in markedly elevated hepatic bile acid levels and liver injury. In contrast, Fxr-null mice fed cholesterol plus CA (CA+Chol) do not exhibit liver injury, and hepatic bile acid levels and bile acid pool size are reduced 51 and 40%, respectively, compared with CA-treated Fxr-null mice. These decreases were not observed in wi...

Bile acids are ligands for the nuclear hormone receptor, farnesoid X receptor (FXR). The bile acid-FXR interaction regulates bile acid synthesis, transport, and cholesterol metabolism. Recently, bile acid-FXR regulation has been reported to play an integral role in both hepatic and intestinal inflammation, and in atherosclerosis. In this study, we found that FXR knockout mice had more disease s...

The farnesoid X receptor (FXR) is a member of the nuclear receptor superfamily that is highly expressed in liver, kidney, adrenal gland, and intestine. It plays an important role in regulating the progression of several cancers including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). So it is necessary to study the regulation of FXR. In this study, we found that the expression of miR-421 was inversely correla...

Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) comprises dysregulation of lipid metabolism and inflammation. Identification of the various genetic and environmental susceptibility factors for NASH may provide novel treatments to limit inflammation and fibrosis in patients. This study utilized a mouse model of hypercholesterolemia, low-density lipoprotein receptor knockout (LDLr(-/-)) mice fed a high-fat d...

Farnesoid X receptor (FXR, NR1H4) plays an important role in the regulation of bile acid homeostasis in liver and intestine and may exert protective effects against certain forms of cancer such as colon carcinoma. However, the role of FXR in cell growth regulation, apoptosis, and carcinogenesis is still controversial. Similar to FXR, microRNA-192 (miR-192) is mainly expressed in the liver and c...

Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) have been previously reported as agonists of peroxisome proliferatoractivated receptor and antagonists of the liver X receptor. The activities on these two nuclear receptors have been attributed to their beneficial effects such as improvement of dyslipidemia and insulin sensitivity and decrease of hepatic lipogenesis. Here we report that PUFAs are ligands of ...

Farnesoid X receptor (FXR), a bile acid-activated nuclear hormone receptor, plays an important role in the regulation of cholesterol and more specifically high-density lipoprotein (HDL) homeostasis. Activation of FXR is reported to lead to both pro- and anti-atherosclerotic effects. In the present study we analyzed the impact of different FXR agonists on cholesterol homeostasis, plasma lipoprot...