Ben-Haroush Schyr R, Al-Kurd A, Moalem B, et al. - The results indicate that the direct assessment of glucose and insulin in the blood entering and leaving the liver demonstrates that vertical sleeve gastrectomy (VSG) affects glucose and insulin metabolism through weight-loss and diet-independent mechanisms.

• Researchers conducted VSG on obese mice provided with a high-fat high-sucrose diet and compared them to diet and weight-matched sham-operated mice (WMS).

• VSG-operated mice showed lesser hepatic steatosis in comparison with WMS, 40 days after surgery.

• Researchers demonstrated directly that hepatic glucose production was suppressed after VSG by assessing the fasting glucose and insulin levels in the blood vessels feeding and draining the liver.

• It was shown that the insulin levels were increased in the portal vein, and hepatic insulin clearance was elevated in VSG-operated mice.

• According to the findings, the hepatic expression of genes correlated with insulin clearance was upregulated.