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World J Gastroenterol. May 14, 2020; 26(18): 2187-2193
Published online May 14, 2020. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v26.i18.2187
Role of gut microbiota on intestinal barrier function in acute pancreatitis
Xue-Yang Li, Cong He, Yin Zhu, Nong-Hua Lu
Xue-Yang Li, Cong He, Yin Zhu, Nong-Hua Lu, Department of Gastroenterology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, Nanchang 330006, Jiangxi Province, China
Author contributions: Li XY and He C conceived and designed the study and wrote the manuscript; Zhu Y and Lu NH made substantial contributions to conception, design and coordination of the study and gave final approval of the version to be published; all authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 81760120 and No. 81960128; and the Key Program of Science and Technology Department of Jiangxi Province, No. 20171BBG70084 and No. 20192ACBL20037.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Yin Zhu, PhD, Doctor, Professor, Department of Gastroenterology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, 17 Yongwaizheng Street, Donghu District, Nanchang 330006, Jiangxi Province, China. zhuyin27@sina.com
Received: January 12, 2020
Peer-review started: January 12, 2020
First decision: January 19, 2020
Revised: March 26, 2020
Accepted: April 15, 2020
Article in press: April 15, 2020
Published online: May 14, 2020
Processing time: 122 Days and 19.4 Hours
Abstract

Acute pancreatitis (AP) is a common gastrointestinal disorder. Approximately 15%-20% of patients develop severe AP. Systemic inflammatory response syndrome and multiple organ dysfunction syndrome may be caused by the massive release of inflammatory cytokines in the early stage of severe AP, followed by intestinal dysfunction and pancreatic necrosis in the later stage. A study showed that 59% of AP patients had associated intestinal barrier injury, with increased intestinal mucosal permeability, leading to intestinal bacterial translocation, pancreatic tissue necrosis and infection, and the occurrence of multiple organ dysfunction syndrome. However, the real effect of the gut microbiota and its metabolites on intestinal barrier function in AP remains unclear. This review summarizes the alterations in the intestinal flora and its metabolites during AP development and progression to unveil the mechanism of gut failure in AP.

Keywords: Acute pancreatitis; Gut microbiota; Short-chain fatty acids; Intestinal barrier

Core tip: Acute pancreatitis (AP) is a common clinical acute abdomen disease, and its incidence is increasing year by year. There are several reviews on the pathophysiology, therapeutic options and clinical trials of AP. However, the real effect of the gut microbiota and its metabolites on intestinal barrier function in AP remains unclear. This review summarizes the alterations in the intestinal flora and its metabolites during AP development and progression to unveil the mechanism of gut failure in AP.