General description
Short chain fatty acids (SCFAs) are saturated fatty acids with less than 6 carbons. SCFAs are produced in the gut by microbial fermentation of dietary fibers.(1) The most important and researched SCFAs are Acetate (Ac), propionate (Pr) and butyrate (Bu).(2) SCFAs are predominantly found in the colon and cross the intestinal epithelium to the blood stream. SCFAs were found to be beneficial and effective in prevention of obesity, Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and insulin resistance.(3,4)
Application
SCFAs can serve in various applications including in vitro and in vivo administration to study the effect on immune system activation(5), protect epithelial cells from LPS penetration by tight junction formation induction(6), effect insulin secretion(7) and more. In these studies, SCFAs were administrated in vitro at the following concentration range Acetate 1-10mM, propionate and butyrate 0.1-1mM and in vivo Acetate, 70 mM; propionate, 30 mM; butyrate, 20 mM.