Pu-erh tea partly improved liver cholesterol metabolism disorders in colitis mice via the gut-liver axis

Pu-erh tea has been shown to reduce gut inflammation in dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced mice. Also, we found abnormal liver cholesterol metabolism in DSS-induced mice. However, it's not clear how Pu-erh tea improves DSS-induced impaired liver cholesterol metabolism. Here, we established the DSS-induced model and clarified that DSS exacerbated gut inflammation accompanied by disorders of liver cholesterol metabolism. Pu-erh tea reshaped gut microbes, limited gut oxidative stress and inflammation (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate oxidase 2/reactive oxygen species/myeloid differentiation primary response protein 88/nuclear factor kappa-B, 24.97%-52.89%), reduced gut bile acid reabsorption (up-regulation of farnesoid X receptor (FXR)/fibroblast growth factor 15, 24.53%-55.91%), and promoted liver bile acid synthesis (up-regulation of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-alpha/cholesterol 7-alpha hydroxylase, 34.65%-79.14%), thereby partly restoring liver cholesterol metabolism (regulated FXR/small heterodimer partner/sterol-regulatory element binding proteins, 53.19%-95.40%). Altered bile acid metabolic profiles (increased chenodeoxycholic acid, ursodeoxycholic acid, lithocholic acid, etc.) may also improve liver cholesterol metabolism by altering gut and liver inflammation. Thus, gut microbial reshaping and altered bile acid metabolism may be key targets of Pu-erh tea for improving DSS-induced liver cholesterol metabolism disorders via the gut-gut microbe-bile acid-liver axis. (c) 2025 Beijing Academy of Food Sciences. Publishing services by Tsinghua University Press. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).