Synergistic Effects of Fructose and Food Preservatives on Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatotic Liver Disease (MASLD): From Gut Microbiome Alterations to Hepatic Gene Expression

This study investigates the synergistic effects of fructose and common food preservatives (sodium benzoate, sodium nitrite, and potassium sorbate) on the development of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) using a human-microbiota-associated mouse model. We examined changes in hepatic gene expression through microarray analysis to understand the molecular mechanisms underlying NAFLD progression in response to these dietary factors. Mice were divided into five groups: control, fructose-only, fructose+benzoate, fructose+nitrite, and fructose+sorbate. After 11 weeks of treatment, liver samples were collected for gene expression analysis using GeneChip Clariom S arrays. Each group consisted of 3 biological replicates.