{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,13]],"date-time":"2025-10-13T09:19:51Z","timestamp":1760347191492,"version":"build-2065373602"},"reference-count":29,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"18","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,9,14]],"date-time":"2024-09-14T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1726272000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"University of Brescia, Health &amp; Wealth Call"},{"name":"Professional Dietetics S.p.A."},{"name":"Fondazione Umberto Veronesi"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Diagnostics"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background: Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatotic Liver Disease (MASLD), a novel term for Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD), is associated with liver mitochondrial dysfunction. We previously demonstrated that mitochondrial respiratory capacity in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) was significantly reduced in patients with MASLD compared to non-MASLD controls. For MASLD treatment, guidelines recommend behavioral and dietary changes to reduce body weight. A recent 12-month clinical trial demonstrated that ameliorating patients\u2019 lifestyles through improved adherence to the Mediterranean diet and encouraged physical activity results in MASLD remission or regression. Methods: As a sub-study of the 12-month clinical trial, we evaluated the effects of the Mediterranean diet-oriented intervention on PBMC mitochondrial DNA content and respiratory parameters and on various biomarkers associated with MASLD. Results: Contrary to what was found at the baseline, after twelve months of intervention, systemic inflammatory and bioenergetics parameters did not differ between MASLD patients (N = 15) and control subjects (N = 17). PBMCs from MASLD subjects showed rescued basal respiration, ATP-linked respiration, maximal respiration, and spare respiratory capacity. The observed recovery coincided with a significant increase in the patients\u2019 adherence to the Mediterranean diet (Medscore). Conclusions: Our findings indicate that a Mediterranean diet-oriented intervention, without calorie reduction, preserves blood cell mitochondrial function in MASLD subjects. Thus, PBMC bioenergetics-based assays might be taken into account not only for diagnosing but also for monitoring therapeutic responses in MASLD.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/diagnostics14182041","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,9,16]],"date-time":"2024-09-16T04:14:07Z","timestamp":1726460047000},"page":"2041","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":3,"title":["A Mediterranean Diet-Oriented Intervention Rescues Impaired Blood Cell Bioenergetics in Patients with Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatotic Liver Disease"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"14","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9744-4681","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Agnese","family":"Segala","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Molecular and Translational Medicine, University of Brescia, 25123 Brescia, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0424-4235","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Marika","family":"Vezzoli","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Molecular and Translational Medicine, University of Brescia, 25123 Brescia, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Alice","family":"Vetturi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Molecular and Translational Medicine, University of Brescia, 25123 Brescia, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Emirena","family":"Garrafa","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Molecular and Translational Medicine, University of Brescia, 25123 Brescia, Italy"},{"name":"Department of Laboratory Diagnostics, ASST Spedali Civili, 25123 Brescia, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1733-9938","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Barbara","family":"Zanini","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Clinical and Experimental Sciences, University of Brescia, 25123 Brescia, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1217-8722","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Emanuela","family":"Bottani","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Molecular and Translational Medicine, University of Brescia, 25123 Brescia, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Monica","family":"Marullo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Clinical and Experimental Sciences, University of Brescia, 25123 Brescia, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0464-8624","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Silvia","family":"Marconi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Clinical and Experimental Sciences, University of Brescia, 25123 Brescia, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0748-6600","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Chiara","family":"Ricci","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Clinical and Experimental Sciences, University of Brescia, 25123 Brescia, Italy"},{"name":"Division of Gastroenterology, ASST Spedali Civili, 25123 Brescia, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5844-2256","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Alessandra","family":"Valerio","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Molecular and Translational Medicine, University of Brescia, 25123 Brescia, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,9,14]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"492","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jhep.2024.04.031","article-title":"EASL\u2013EASD\u2013EASO Clinical Practice Guidelines on the Management of Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatotic Liver Disease (MASLD)","volume":"81","author":"Tacke","year":"2024","journal-title":"J. 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