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©The Author(s) 2025. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Hepatol. Nov 27, 2025; 17(11): 113756
Published online Nov 27, 2025. doi: 10.4254/wjh.v17.i11.113756
Published online Nov 27, 2025. doi: 10.4254/wjh.v17.i11.113756
Roles of short-chain fatty acids in metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease and metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis
Chun-Ye Zhang, Bond Life Sciences Center, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65212, United States
Shuai Liu, The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310006, Zhejiang Province, China
Yu-Xiang Sui, School of Life Science, Shanxi Normal University, Linfen 041004, Shanxi Province, China
Ming Yang, Department of Surgery, University of Connecticut, School of Medicine, Farmington, CT 06030, United States
Author contributions: Zhang CY, Liu S, Sui Y, and Yang M designed, wrote, revised, and finalized the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
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: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Ming Yang, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Surgery, University of Connecticut, School of Medicine, 263 Farmington Avenue, Farmington, CT 06030, United States. minyang@uchc.edu
Received: September 2, 2025
Revised: October 25, 2025
Accepted: October 30, 2025
Published online: November 27, 2025
Processing time: 86 Days and 5.8 Hours
Revised: October 25, 2025
Accepted: October 30, 2025
Published online: November 27, 2025
Processing time: 86 Days and 5.8 Hours
Core Tip
Core Tip: Short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) produced by gut microbial fermentation of indigestible fiber play important roles in regulating liver inflammation, fibrosis, and energy metabolism. The common SCFAs in the gut and liver are acetate, butyrate, and propionate. Strategies that enhance SCFA production, such as probiotic or dietary fiber supplementation, bariatric surgery, ketohexokinase inhibition, or fecal microbiota transplantation, offer promising methods for preventing metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease and metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis.