Mosapride citrate improves nonalcoholic steatohepatitis with increased fecal lactic acid bacteria and plasma glucagon-like peptide-1 level in a rodent model.

Several lines of evidence have suggested a role of gut microbiota in the etiology of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). NASH subjects reportedly showed a prolonged orocecal transit time coexistent with small intestinal bacterial overgrowth. We considered the possibility that enhanced gastrointestinal motility would influence gut microbiota and thus investigated the effects of the gastroprokinetic agent mosapride citrate (MC) on gut microbiota and the development of NASH using a methionine-choline deficient (MCD) diet-fed rodent model. Mice were divided into three groups, given the normal chow diet (NCD), the MCD diet, or the MCD diet containing 10 mg·kg(-1)·day(-1) of MC (MCD plus MC) for 6 wk. NASH development was evaluated based on hepatic histochemical findings, serum parameters and various mRNA and/or protein expression levels. MC treatment suppressed MCD diet-induced NASH development, with reduced serum lipopolysaccharide and increased plasma glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) concentrations. Calculation of the relative abundance of each strain based on gut microbiota analyses indicated lactic acid bacteria specifically, such as Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus, in feces to be decreased in the MCD, compared with the NCD group. Interestingly, the reduction in lactic acid bacteria in the MCD diet group was reversed in the MCD plus MC group. In addition, colon inflammation observed in the MCD diet group was reduced in the MCD plus MC group. Therefore, MC showed a protective effect against MCD diet-induced NASH development in our rodent model, with possible involvements of increased fecal lactic acid bacteria, protection against colon inflammation and elevated plasma GLP-1.