We read with great interest the review by Tranah et al ,1 which highlighted that alcohol consumption, alterations in the gut microbiome and impairment of the gut barrier function were linked to the development of alcohol-related liver disease (ALD). However, the impact of acute alcohol consumption on the circulating microbiome in patients with ALD remains unclear. To address this gap, we conducted a controlled acute alcohol intervention in healthy controls (n=8), individuals with ALD (n=14) and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) (n=14). Ethanol (2.5 mL of 40% EtOH per kg body weight) was instilled via a nasogastric tube over 30 min by infusion pump. To sample hepatic and systemic venous blood simultaneously, we placed a catheter in a hepatic vein via a transjugular access and another catheter in the right internal jugular vein. Blood was sampled at eight time points over 3 hours (figure 1A).2 3 We performed 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing (16S sequencing) and measurement of 16S rRNA gene copy number using qPCR (16S qPCR) in 576 blood samples. Circulating microbial DNA quantities were significantly higher in hepatic/systemic circulation compared with negative controls, indicating that microbial contamination was well contained and had a negligible impact on the results (figure 1B). Figure 1 Experimental design and bioinformatic workflow. (A) Experimental design: The 36 participants had three distinct hepatic phenotypes: 8 healthy controls, 14 with ALD, and 14 with NAFLD. At baseline, blood was sampled first, and alcohol subsequently instilled over 30 minutes. Blood was sampled at 0, 15, 30, 60, 90, 120, 150, 180. (B) 16S rRNA gene amplicon analysis workflow: We characterised the microbial …

中文翻译：

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急性饮酒对无症状酒精相关性肝病循环微生物组的影响

我们饶有兴趣地阅读了 Tranah 等人的评论，1 其中强调饮酒、肠道微生物组的改变和肠道屏障功能的损害与酒精相关性肝病 (ALD) 的发展有关。然而，急性饮酒对 ALD 患者循环微生物组的影响仍不清楚。为了解决这一差距，我们对健康对照组 (n=8)、ALD 患者 (n=14) 和非酒精性脂肪肝病 (NAFLD) (n=14) 患者进行了受控急性酒精干预。通过鼻胃管用输注泵在 30 分钟内滴注乙醇（2.5 mL 40% EtOH/kg 体重）。为了同时采集肝脏和全身静脉血样本，我们通过经颈静脉通路将一根导管放置在肝静脉中，并将另一根导管放置在右颈内静脉中。在 3 小时内的 8 个时间点采集血液样本（图 1A）。2 3 我们对 576 个血液样本进行了 16S rRNA 基因扩增子测序（16S 测序）并使用 qPCR（16S qPCR）测量 16S rRNA 基因拷贝数。与阴性对照相比，肝脏/体循环中的循环微生物 DNA 数量显着较高，表明微生物污染得到很好的控制，对结果的影响可以忽略不计（图 1B）。图 1 实验设计和生物信息学工作流程。 (A) 实验设计：36 名参与者具有三种不同的肝脏表型：8 名健康对照，14 名患有 ALD，14 名患有 NAFLD。在基线时，首先采集血液样本，随后在 30 分钟内滴注酒精。在 0、15、30、60、90、120、150、180 时采集血液样本。(B) 16S rRNA 基因扩增子分析工作流程：我们表征了微生物……