pubmed:abstractText |
Not all alcoholics develop liver disease (ALD). Thus, excessive ethanol consumption is necessary, but not sufficient, to induce alcoholic steatohepatitis (ASH) and ALD. Since endotoxemia is present in patients with ALD, it has been proposed that gut-derived, circulating endotoxin is the necessary co-factor for ASH. But, it is not known whether endotoxemia is the consequence or the trigger for ALD. Accordingly, the aim of the current study was to determine whether endotoxemia occurs prior to development of ASH and whether gut leakiness is the primary cause of the endotoxemia in an animal model of ASH.
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