Dr. Axe Wire · Food, herbs & supplements · sleep

Diosgenin Pretreatment Eased Sleep-Deprivation Liver Injury in Mice

A yam-derived compound calmed gut and liver inflammation linked to 24 hours of forced sleep loss in a new mouse study.

By Dr. Axe Editorial Team · October 23, 2026 · 1 source · Watch

A study published October 13, 2026 in Food & Function found that giving mice diosgenin, a plant compound, before a 24-hour stretch of forced sleep loss reduced the liver inflammation and gut barrier changes seen in untreated sleep-deprived mice.

Researchers screened 265 natural products and bioactive small molecules, then tested diosgenin, a sapogenin found in Dioscorea yam species, in mice. After 24 hours of forced sleep deprivation on a rotating platform, sleep loss was associated with acute liver inflammation, a leakier gut, changes in the gut vascular barrier, disrupted gut microbes and higher levels of lipopolysaccharide, a bacterial toxin, in the gut and liver. Mice given oral diosgenin beforehand had less liver and intestinal inflammation and fewer barrier changes, with partial improvement in gut microbes and toxin levels, compared with untreated sleep-deprived mice. The abstract gives no numbers for these changes.

In a fecal transplant test, gut microbes from sleep-deprived mice passed part of the liver and gut injury to antibiotic-pretreated recipient mice, while microbes from diosgenin-pretreated donors passed on a milder version. The authors read this as support for the gut microbiota and intestinal barrier being involved in sleep-loss liver injury.

24hour

Forced sleep loss in mice before liver and gut inflammation was measured

Food & Function, 2026, Kong et al.

Sample sizes, doses and effect sizes were not reported. Diosgenin was given before sleep loss as prevention, not as treatment, and this gut-liver pathway has not been tested in people.

Dr. Axe’s Take

This mouse study shows lost sleep can reach the liver through the gut. In these mice, 24 hours without sleep made the gut leakier, raised a bacterial toxin in the gut and liver, and inflamed the liver, and gut microbes carried part of that damage to other mice. Diosgenin, a yam compound, eased those changes, but it was given before the sleep loss and only in mice, so I wouldn't treat it as a fix for short nights. Getting back to full sleep is what actually fixes this. Before a short night, I'd feed the gut barrier with fiber-rich vegetables and fermented foods.

— Dr. Axe

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Story summary

Who: Mice; sample size not reported
Design: Animal study, rotating-platform 24-hour forced sleep deprivation, with oral diosgenin given before sleep loss; fecal microbiota transplant into antibiotic-pretreated recipient mice
Dose: Oral diosgenin pretreatment; exact dose not reported in abstract
Primary result: Diosgenin pretreatment reduced liver and intestinal inflammation and limited gut barrier and gut vascular barrier changes versus untreated sleep-deprived mice; exact magnitude not reported
Secondary: Diosgenin partially corrected gut microbiota disruption and elevated gut/liver lipopolysaccharide; microbiota transplant from diosgenin-pretreated donors produced a milder injury pattern in recipients than microbiota from untreated sleep-deprived donors
Funding / conflicts: Funder listed in the journal record: National Natural Science Foundation of China. Conflicts not reported in the abstract.
Date: Oct 13, 2026