The ketogenic diet (KD) has emerged as a popular weight-loss regimen in recent years. However, it has been confirmed to elicit a mild inflammatory response in the intestinal epithelium and exacerbate various digestive disorders. The severity of acute pancreatitis (AP) is closely associated with the permeability of the intestinal epithelium and gut microbiota, yet the impact of KD on acute pancreatitis remains unclear. In this study, we induced acute pancreatitis using L-arginine in mice fed with KD. The consumption of KD resulted in an elevation of lipopolysaccharide-binding protein (LBP), accompanied by upregulated cytokines (IL-1a, IL-5, IL-12, MIP-1a, and Rantes) and dysfunction of the intestinal barrier both in control and AP groups. The bloom of Lachnospirales and Erysipelotrichales was observed as a specific profile of gut microbiota in KD-fed mice with AP, along with downregulation of carbohydrate metabolism and depletion of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs). Antibiotic decontamination reduced the cytokine storm and tissue necrosis but did not significantly improve the integrity of the intestinal barrier in KD-fed mice with AP. The overgrowth of Mycoplasmatales in feces and Enterobacterales in colonic tissue appears to explain the limitation of antibiotic treatment to aggravate acute pancreatitis. Butyrate supplementation attenuated the depletion of SCFAs, promoted the intestinal barrier, and reduced the necrotic area in AP mice. The bloom of Bacteroidales and the correlated increase in tryptophan metabolism explain the therapeutic potential of butyrate supplements for acute pancreatitis. In conclusion, our findings suggest that the ketogenic diet exacerbates acute pancreatitis through its impact on the gut microbiota and subsequent disruption of the intestinal barrier, while butyrate supplementation reverses this effect.
Keywords: L-arginine; acute pancreatitis; butyrate; ketogenic diet.