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The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effects of prebiotic, probiotic and synbiotic supplementation on liver histopathology and TLR-4, NFκB and TNF-α gene expression involved in the inflammatory cascade and pathogenesis of experimental nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).

Wistar male adult rats (n = 40) were submitted to hypercholesterolemic conditions (60 days). On Day 30 of hypercholesterolemic conditions, rats were subdivided in five groups: negative control (NC), positive control (PC), prebiotic (PRE), probiotic (PRO) and synbiotic (SYN). All rats were sacrificed on Day 60. Liver tissue was used to verify histopathological changes and gene expression. Gene expression of TLR-4, TNF-α and NFκB was evaluated in liver tissue using RT-qPCR.

Histopathological analysis: PC showed more changes than NC, and PRE and SYN showed fewer alterations than PC. Gene expression analysis: PRE showed higher TLR-4, and NFκB and TNF-α compared to PC. Also, PRE showed higher TLR-4 when compared to PRO and SYN. SYN group revealed higher TLR-4 and NFκB expressions compared to PC. PRO group also showed higher NFκB expression compared to PC.

NAFLD is a significant health concern, and it found that prebiotic, probiotic and synbiotic supplementation could have positive effects as a nonpharmacological approach to control this disease.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of acai pulp consumption on biometric parameters and inflammatory biomarkers (sCD40L, CCL5, TNF-a and CRP) in apparently healthy women.

Nutritional intervention was performed with women who consumed 200 g of acai pulp daily during 30 consecutive days. Firstly, they were divided into two groups: normal weight and overweight related to BMI. Then, such volunteers were subdivided into other two groups according to values below or above the median of sCD40L.

sCD40L (ρg/mL) concentrations increased in overweight volunteers post-consumption of acai (964 ± 542) compared with the same volunteers pre-consumption of acai (633 ± 187, p = 0.03), and the CCL5 concentrations (ρg/mL) decreased in volunteers with sCD40L concentrations below median after the treatment (4.1 ± 1.5) when compared in same volunteers before the treatment (5.8 ± 1.8, p = 0.02). Protein consumption (g) reduced in volunteers with sCD40L concentrations below median after the intervention (96.6 ± 44.5), when compared before the intervention (96.7 ± 33.8, p = 0.03).

This paper concluded that the acai consumption can modulate the inflammatory profile in both stratified volunteers according to the BMI and the sCD40L marker median.