Gut-Liver Axis: Probiotic Interventions

The gut and liver are anatomically and physiologically distant organs, yet linked via portal vein and biliary duct, thus affecting each other. The gut-liver axis refers to the bidirectional relationship between the gut, its microbial metabolites, and the liver by means of signals generated by dietary metabolites and genetic and environmental factors. GI microbiota is crucial to maintain homeostasis of gut-liver axis. Intestinal microbiota and their metabolites modulate the functioning of the liver, hence affecting diseases such as non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, alcoholic steatohepatitis, hepatic cirrhosis, and hepatic cellular carcinoma. Careful microbial interventions targeting the gut-liver axis may be the futuristic therapeutic adoptions to prevent selective hepatic and gastrointestinal diseases.