With the improvement in living standards, the incidence of diseases has been increasing year by year, including obesity, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease, which poses a serious threat to human health(Aminian et al., 2018). There is a close relationship between obesity and glucose metabolism(Zeng et al., 2021). When hyperglycemia occurs, the body will compensate by the secretion of more insulin, which can result in insulin resistance and hyperinsulinemia. Bariatric and metabolic surgery is the most effective method for the treatment of obesity. The most common procedures are LSG and LSG + JJB. Although bariatric surgery can be used to treat type 2 diabetes, it is not clear what factors affect the reduction of postoperative glucose metabolism indicators, and what indicators could reflect the severity of type 2 diabetes.
Obesity is closely related to glucose metabolism and diabetes. Bariatric metabolic surgery can reduce blood glucose to treat type 2 diabetes; LSG + JJB surgery has a better hypoglycemic effect than LSG surgery, which can be attributed to the following reasons. Firstly, the K cells in the exclusion zone do not receive food stimulation, and the secretion of inflammatory factors decreased; therefore, glucose metabolism was improved(Lopez-Nava et al., 2022). Secondly, under the stimulation of food, the secretion of endocrine regulatory peptide and GP1 was increased in the distal jejunum and ileum. These cytokines stimulate proliferation and reconstruction of islet function(Cottam et al., 2018). Thirdly, laparoscopic bariatric and metabolic surgery can change the volume and pathway of the digestive tract, altering the food intake and absorption methods of patients to regulate the bile acid cycle and gastrointestinal hormones, thus regulating insulin sensitivity and maintaining a satisfying long-term weight loss effect(Rebibo et al., 2019; Soong et al., 2021).
Adipose tissue can secrete a variety of inflammatory factors, such as IL-8, IL-10, TNF-α, and IL-1β. The inflammatory response can promote the occurrence and development of obesity or diabetes, leading to abnormal glucose or lipid metabolism(Cimini et al., 2017; Peña et al., 2023). Excessive activation of the inflammatory response is an important pathological factor affecting insulin biological signal transduction, ultimately resulting in insulin resistance. IL-8, TNF-α, and IL-1β are pro-inflammatory cytokines, which affect insulin sensitivity through the biological activity of inflammatory mediators and inhibit the biological signal transduction of insulin-mediated biological effects, leading to the occurrence of insulin resistance. IL-10 is the most widely studied anti-inflammatory cytokine, which can inhibit the expression of other cytokines, such as TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-8. Furthermore, the increased secretion of pro-inflammatory factors leads to the increased secretion of IL-10. Previous studies have confirmed that inflammatory factors are significantly reduced after bariatric and metabolic surgery(Wolf et al., 2019). We found that both LSG and LSG + JJB surgery resulted in favorable anti-inflammatory effects. The level of inflammatory factors was significantly decreased at 3 months after surgery; this was quicker than that observed in previous studies, which reported a significant effect at 6 months or even 1 year after surgery.
Patients with obesity are often accompanied by symptoms such as abnormal inflammatory factors and abnormal glucose metabolism. Therefore, in addition to postoperative body weight, bariatric surgery can also be used to regulate inflammatory factors and glucose metabolism. Our study showed that both surgical options have weight loss, hypoglycemic, and anti-inflammatory effects, which was consistent with most research results. In addition, the correlation analysis showed that the body weight was tightly corelated with inflammatory factors and glucose metabolism in the LSG + JJB group, and there was a positive correlation between inflammatory factors and glucose metabolism. Combined with the better hypoglycemic effect of LSG + JJB surgery, it could be concluded that LSG + JJB surgery has a more favorable anti-inflammatory effect.
In addition, we observed sex-related differences in the postoperative effects of the two surgical approaches. Among the four groups of male LSG, female LSG, male LSG + JJB, and female LSG + JJB, we found that the male LSG + JJB group had the best hypoglycemic and anti-inflammatory effects, which indicated that males may be more suitable for LSG + JJB bariatric surgery. This phenomenon could be explained as follows. Firstly, sex differences in adipose tissue can result in obese males being more prone to obesity-related complications, such as diabetes, hypertension, and dyslipidemia, which in turn leads to abnormalities in related inflammatory factors and glucose metabolism indicators. In addition, abdominal fat content in female patients was correlated with total cholesterol, triglycerides, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL), and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol while abdominal fat content in male patients was only correlated with the FBG and HDL In addition, males are more likely to return to normal glucose metabolism after losing the same amount of weight(Bouchi et al., 2017; Romano et al., 2021).
In summary, we found that both the LSG and LSG + JJB groups showed a satisfying effect regarding weight loss. The glucose metabolism level was significantly improved after LSG + JJB surgery, which was non-existent in the LSG group. In addition, there was a positive correlation among body weight, inflammatory factors, and glucose metabolism in the LSG + JJB group. The hypoglycemic and anti-inflammatory effects in males were better than in females receiving LSG + JJB surgery. This study demonstrated the influencing factors and sex-related differences in LSG + JJB surgery, providing valuable theoretical reference for the clinical treatment of obesity.