Disparate Metabolic Responses in Mice Fed a High-Fat Diet Supplemented with Maize-Derived Non-Digestible Feruloylated Oligo- and Polysaccharides Are Linked to Changes in the Gut Microbiota

Studies have suggested links between colonic fermentation of dietary fibers and improved metabolic health. The objectives of this study were to determine if non-digestible feruloylated oligo- and polysaccharides (FOPS), a maize-derived dietary fiber, could counteract the deleterious effects of high-fat (HF) feeding in mice and explore if metabolic benefits were linked to the gut microbiota. C57BL/6J mice (n = 8/group) were fed a low-fat (LF; 10 kcal% fat), HF (62 kcal% fat), or HF diet supplemented with FOPS (5%, w/w). Pronounced differences in FOPS responsiveness were observed: four mice experienced cecal enlargement and enhanced short chain fatty acid production, indicating increased cecal fermentation (F-FOPS). Only these mice displayed improvements in glucose metabolism compared with HF-fed mice. Blooms in the gut microbial genera Blautia and Akkermansia were observed in three of the F-FOPS mice; these shifts were associated with reductions in body and adipose tissue weights compared with the HF-fed control mice. No improvements in metabolic markers or weights were detected in the four mice whose gut microbiota did not respond to FOPS. These findings demonstrate that FOPS-induced improvements in weight gain and metabolic health in mice depended on the ability of an individual’s microbiota to ferment FOPS.     

Structural Changes of Gut Microbiota during Berberine-Mediated Prevention of Obesity and Insulin Resistance in High-Fat Diet-Fed Rats

Berberine, a major pharmacological component of the Chinese herb Coptis chinensis, which was originally used to treat bacterial diarrhea, has recently been demonstrated to be clinically effective in alleviating type 2 diabetes. In this study, we revealed that berberine effectively prevented the development of obesity and insulin resistance in high-fat diet (HFD)-fed rats, which showed decreased food intake. Increases in the levels of serum lipopolysaccharide-binding protein, monocyte chemoattractant protein-1, and leptin and decrease in the serum level of adiponectin corrected for body fat in HFD-fed rats were also significantly retarded by the co-administration of berberine at 100 mg/kg body weight. Bar-coded pyrosequencing of the V3 region of 16S rRNA genes revealed a significant reduction in the gut microbiota diversity of berberine-treated rats. UniFrac principal coordinates analysis revealed a marked shift of the gut microbiota structure in berberine-treated rats away from that of the controls. Redundancy analysis identified 268 berberine-responding operational taxonomic units (OTUs), most of which were essentially eliminated, whereas a few putative short-chain fatty acid (SCFA)-producing bacteria, including Blautia and Allobaculum, were selectively enriched, along with elevations of fecal SCFA concentrations. Partial least square regression models based on these 268 OTUs were established (Q(2)>0.6) for predicting the adiposity index, body weight, leptin and adiponectin corrected for body fat, indicating that these discrete phylotypes might have a close association with the host metabolic phenotypes. Taken together, our findings suggest that the prevention of obesity and insulin resistance by berberine in HFD-fed rats is at least partially mediated by structural modulation of the gut microbiota, which may help to alleviate inflammation by reducing the exogenous antigen load in the host and elevating SCFA levels in the intestine.     

Myostatin Expression,Lymphocyte Population,and Potential Cytokine Production Correlate with Predisposition to High-Fat Diet Induced Obesity in Mice

A strong relationship exists between increased inflammatory cytokines and muscle insulin resistance in obesity. This study focused on identifying a relationship between metabolic propensity and myostatin expression in muscle and spleen cells in response to high-fat diet intake. Using a comparative approach, we analyzed the effects of high-fat diet intake on myostatin and follistatin expression, spleen cell composition, and potential cytokine expression in high-fat diet induced obesity (HFDIO) resistant (SWR/J) and susceptible (C57BL/6) mice models. Results demonstrated overall increased myostatin expression in muscle following high-fat diet intake in HFDIO-susceptible mice, while myostatin expression levels decreased initially in muscle from high-fat diet fed resistant mice. In HFDIO-resistant mice, myostatin expression decreased in spleen, while myostatin increased in spleen tissue from HFDIO-susceptible mice. Proinflammatory cytokine (IL-17, IL-1β, and IFNγ) potential increased in splenocytes from HFDIO-susceptible mice. In comparison, C57BL/6 mice fed a high-fat diet exhibited higher frequencies of CD4⁺/CD44^hi and CD8⁺/CD44^hi cells in the spleen compared to control fed mice. Together, these results suggest that susceptibility to high-fat diet induced obesity could be influenced by local myostatin activity in a tissue-specific manner and that splenocytes exhibit differential cytokine production in a strain-dependent manner. This study sets the stage for future investigations into the interactions between growth, inflammation, and metabolism.     

Effect of Housing Condition and Diet on the Gut Microbiota of Weanling Immunocompromised Mice

Gastrointestinal microbiota are affected by a wide variety of extrinsic and intrinsic factors. In the husbandry of laboratory mice and design of experiments, controlling these factors where possible provides more reproducible results. However, the microbiome is dynamic, particularly in the weeks immediately after weaning. In this study, we characterized the baseline gastrointestinal microbiota of immunocompromised mice housed under standard conditions for our facility for 6 weeks after weaning, with housing either in an isolator or in individually ventilated cages and a common antibiotic diet (trimethoprim sulfamethoxazole). We compared these conditions to a group fed a standard diet and a group that was weaned to a standard diet then switched to antibiotic diet after 2 weeks. We found no clear effect of diet on richness and α diversity of the gastrointestinal microbiota. However, diet did affect which taxa were enriched at the end of the experiment. The change to antibiotic diet during the experiment did not convert the gastrointestinal microbiome to a state similar to mice consistently fed antibiotic diet, which may highlight the importance of the initial post-weaning period in the establishment of the gastrointestinal microbiome. We also observed a strong effect of housing type (isolator compared with individually ventilated cage) on the richness, α diversity, β diversity, and taxa enriched over the course of the experiment. Investigating whether the diet or microbiome affects a certain strain’s phenotype is warranted in some cases. However, our findings do not suggest that maintaining immunocompromised mice on antibiotic feed has a clinical benefit when potential pathogens are operationally excluded, nor does it result in a more consistent or controlled microbiome in the post-weaning period.

Gastrointestinal microbiota (GM) have significant effects on animal health and are affected by many factors including diet, antibiotic administration, age, sex, strain, and cage environment.^{4,5,7,8,11,16} When using mice to study human disease, particularly when studying immune response to disease, recognizing which portions of a study are or are not controlled is an important element.⁹ In the case of the GM, characterizing the populations of bacteria under defined housing conditions for commonly used strains is an important step in improving reproducibility and translatability of these models.⁹Feeding diets compounded with antibiotics is common practice in irradiated animals to prevent opportunistic infections in the postprocedural period, and that practice has been extended to other populations that are known to be immunocompromised, such as SCID or nude mice.^3,19 In our facility, standard practice is to maintain populations of known and presumed immunodeficient mice as well as immunologically-humanized mice, on trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (TMS) antibiotic chow after weaning. However, mice that consume TMS from ad libitum commercial diets or water do not achieve therapeutic plasma concentrations of antibiotic against most pathogens.^14,15 Non-judicious use of antibiotics also contributes to the growing problem of antimicrobial resistance.¹⁹ Because immunodeficient mice are used to study human disease, immunity, and autoimmunity, the use of an antibiotic that may affect immunity and be clinically irrelevant for preventing disease creates a significant confounding variable.^1,9,10,20,21 In addition, medicated chow is more expensive than standard rodent chow, so this policy represents a significant operational cost.This study had 2 primary goals. The first was to characterize the microbiome of our most common immunodeficient mouse model after weaning under 2 standard housing (individually ventilated cage (IVC) or open-top cage within a semirigid isolator (isolator)) and 3 diet (TMS diet, standard rodent chow, or a switch from standard to TMS diet) conditions. This information may be important for future model characterization and may assist in rescue of model phenotypes that depend on an inhouse microbiome that may drift over time. We hypothesized that housing would have a greater effect on the GM than would the type of chow because of the low concentration of TMS in the medicated chow. We also hypothesized that mice fed only a TMS diet would show lower GM species richness and α diversity as compared with groups fed standard rodent chow due to antibiotic dampening of certain bacterial populations.Concern about maintaining disease phenotypes that depend on diet is a major roadblock to changing our current practice of providing TMS diet. Therefore, our second goal was to determine the stability of the GM after a diet change in the post-weaning period. To assess this, we changed the diet of a subset of cages from standard diet back to TMS diet 2 weeks after weaning. We hypothesized that a change to the TMS diet after a 2-week period on standard chow would²⁴ negate any TMS-related effects on the microbiome. This outcome would be expressed as an alignment in richness, diversity, and relative populations with that found in the group fed TMS diet over the entire experiment under a given housing condition.     

Mice Deficient in Proglucagon-Derived Peptides Exhibit Glucose Intolerance on a High-Fat Diet but Are Resistant to Obesity

Homozygous glucagon-GFP knock-in mice (Gcg^gfp/gfp) lack proglucagon derived-peptides including glucagon and GLP-1, and are normoglycemic. We have previously shown that Gcg^gfp/gfp show improved glucose tolerance with enhanced insulin secretion. Here, we studied glucose and energy metabolism in Gcg^gfp/gfp mice fed a high-fat diet (HFD). Male Gcg^gfp/gfp and Gcg^gfp/+ mice were fed either a normal chow diet (NCD) or an HFD for 15–20 weeks. Regardless of the genotype, mice on an HFD showed glucose intolerance, and Gcg^gfp/gfp mice on HFD exhibited impaired insulin secretion whereas Gcg^gfp/+ mice on HFD exhibited increased insulin secretion. A compensatory increase in β-cell mass was observed in Gcg^gfp/+mice on HFD, but not in Gcg^gfp/gfp mice on the same diet. Weight gain was significantly lower in Gcg^gfp/gfp mice than in Gcg^gfp/+mice. Oxygen consumption was enhanced in Gcg^gfp/gfp mice compared to Gcg^gfp/+ mice on an HFD. HFD feeding significantly increased uncoupling protein 1 mRNA expression in brown adipose and inguinal white adipose tissues of Gcg^gfp/gfp mice, but not of Gcg^gfp/+mice. Treatment with the glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist liraglutide (200 mg/kg) improved glucose tolerance in Gcg^gfp/gfp mice and insulin content in Gcg^gfp/gfp and Gcg^gfp/+ mice was similar after liraglutide treatment. Our findings demonstrate that Gcg^gfp/gfp mice develop diabetes upon HFD-feeding in the absence of proglucagon-derived peptides, although they are resistant to diet-induced obesity.     

The Gut Microbiota of Wild Mice

The gut microbiota profoundly affects the biology of its host. The composition of the microbiota is dynamic and is affected by both host genetic and many environmental effects. The gut microbiota of laboratory mice has been studied extensively, which has uncovered many of the effects that the microbiota can have. This work has also shown that the environments of different research institutions can affect the mouse microbiota. There has been relatively limited study of the microbiota of wild mice, but this has shown that it typically differs from that of laboratory mice (and that maintaining wild caught mice in the laboratory can quite quickly alter the microbiota). There is also inter-individual variation in the microbiota of wild mice, with this principally explained by geographical location. In this study we have characterised the gut (both the caecum and rectum) microbiota of wild caught Mus musculus domesticus at three UK sites and have investigated how the microbiota varies depending on host location and host characteristics. We find that the microbiota of these mice are generally consistent with those described from other wild mice. The rectal and caecal microbiotas of individual mice are generally more similar to each other, than they are to the microbiota of other individuals. We found significant differences in the diversity of the microbiotas among mice from different sample sites. There were significant correlations of microbiota diversity and body weight, a measure of age, body-mass index, serum concentration of leptin, and virus, nematode and mite infection.     

高糖高脂饮食对兔肾小管间质纤维化的影响

为研究高糖高脂饮食对新西兰兔(Oryctolagus cuniculus)肾小管间质纤维化的影响,将20只雄兔随机均分2组,分别喂正常饲料(对照组)和高糖高脂饲料(模型组),每月测空腹血糖和甘油三酯(TG),5个月后取尿液测尿糖、微量白蛋白(mAlb)和N-乙酰β-氨基葡萄糖苷酶(NAG),H.E、VG染色观察肾髓质病理改变,计算肾小管间质纤维化指数(TIFI)和胶原纤维面积,免疫组化测Ⅳ型胶原、纤维连接蛋白(FN)和转化生长因子β1(TGF-β1)的蛋白表达。结果显示,与对照组相比,模型组血糖、TG、尿糖、mAlb和NAG上升(P0.05或P0.01);肾小管间质肿胀,炎症细胞浸润,胶原纤维面积增加(22.47%±5.66%vs.9.43%±3.03%,P0.01),TIFI升高(2.369±0.6734vs.0.6810±0.2248,P0.01);Ⅳ型胶原、FN和TGF-β1的表达显著增加(P0.01)。上述结果说明,高糖高脂喂养兔5个月可导致肾小管、间质的结构和功能发生改变,细胞外基质表达增加,促进纤维化形成。     

Mice Chronically Fed High-Fat Diet Have Increased Mortality and Disturbed Immune Response in Sepsis

Background

Sepsis is a potentially deadly disease that often is caused by gram-positive bacteria, in particular Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus). As there are few effective therapies for sepsis, increased basic knowledge about factors predisposing is needed.

Methodology/Principal Findings

The purpose of this study was to study the effect of Western diet on mortality induced by intravenous S. aureus inoculation and the immune functions before and after bacterial inoculation. Here we show that C57Bl/6 mice on high-fat diet (HFD) for 8 weeks, like genetically obese Ob/Ob mice on low-fat diet (LFD), have increased mortality during S. aureus-induced sepsis compared with LFD-fed C57Bl/6 controls. Bacterial load in the kidneys 5–7 days after inoculation was increased 10-fold in HFD-fed compared with LFD-fed mice. At that time, HFD-fed mice had increased serum levels and fat mRNA expression of the immune suppressing cytokines interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1Ra) and IL-10 compared with LFD-fed mice. In addition, HFD-fed mice had increased serum levels of the pro-inflammatory IL-1β. Also, HFD-fed mice with and without infection had increased levels of macrophages in fat. The proportion and function of phagocytosing granulocytes, and the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) by peritoneal lavage cells were decreased in HFD-fed compared with LFD-fed mice.

Conclusions

Our findings imply that chronic HFD disturb several innate immune functions in mice, and impairs the ability to clear S. aureus and survive sepsis.     

Spatial Cognition in Adult and Aged Mice Exposed to High-Fat Diet

Aging is associated with a decline in multiple aspects of cognitive function, with spatial cognition being particularly sensitive to age-related decline. Environmental stressors, such as high-fat diet (HFD) exposure, that produce a diabetic phenotype and metabolic dysfunction may indirectly lead to exacerbated brain aging and promote the development of cognitive deficits. The present work investigated whether exposure to HFD exacerbates age-related cognitive deficits in adult versus aged mice. Adult (5 months old) and aged (15 months old) mice were exposed to control diet or HFD for three months prior to, and throughout, behavioral testing. Anxiety-like behavior in the light-dark box test, discrimination learning and memory in the novel object/place recognition tests, and spatial learning and memory in the Barnes maze test were assessed. HFD resulted in significant gains in body weight and fat mass content with adult mice gaining significantly more weight and adipose tissue due to HFD than aged mice. Weight gain was attributed to food calories sourced from fat, but not total calorie intake. HFD increased fasting insulin levels in all mice, but adult mice showed a greater increase relative to aged mice. Behaviorally, HFD increased anxiety-like behavior in adult but not aged mice without significantly affecting spatial cognition. In contrast, aged mice fed either control or HFD diet displayed deficits in novel place discrimination and spatial learning. Our results suggest that adult mice are more susceptible to the physiological and anxiety-like effects of HFD consumption than aged mice, while aged mice displayed deficits in spatial cognition regardless of dietary influence. We conclude that although HFD induces systemic metabolic dysfunction in both adult and aged mice, overall cognitive function was not adversely affected under the current experimental conditions.     

Potentially Probiotic Limosilactobacillus fermentum Fruit-Derived Strains Alleviate Cardiometabolic Disorders and Gut Microbiota Impairment in Male Rats Fed a High-Fat Diet

Probiotics and Antimicrobial Proteins - High-fat diet (HFD) consumption is a risk factor for dyslipidemias, insulin resistance, and arterial hypertension linked with gut dysbiosis. Probiotic...     

Conjugated Linoleic Acid Supplementation under a High-Fat Diet Modulates Stomach Protein Expression and Intestinal Microbiota in Adult Mice

The gastrointestinal tract constitutes a physiological interface integrating nutrient and microbiota-host metabolism. Conjugated linoleic acids (CLA) have been reported to contribute to decreased body weight and fat accretion. The modulation by dietary CLA of stomach proteins related to energy homeostasis or microbiota may be involved, although this has not been previously analysed. This is examined in the present study, which aims to underline the potential mechanisms of CLA which contribute to body weight regulation. Adult mice were fed either a normal fat (NF, 12% kJ content as fat) or a high-fat (HF, 43% kJ content as fat) diet. In the latter case, half of the animals received daily oral supplementation of CLA. Expression and content of stomach proteins and specific bacterial populations from caecum were analysed. CLA supplementation was associated with an increase in stomach protein expression, and exerted a prebiotic action on both Bacteroidetes/Prevotella and Akkermansia muciniphila. However, CLA supplementation was not able to override the negative effects of HF diet on Bifidobacterium spp., which was decreased in both HF and HF+CLA groups. Our data show that CLA are able to modulate stomach protein expression and exert a prebiotic effect on specific gut bacterial species.     

Short-Chain Fructo-Oligosaccharides Modulate Intestinal Microbiota and Metabolic Parameters of Humanized Gnotobiotic Diet Induced Obesity Mice

Prebiotic fibres like short-chain fructo-oligosaccharides (scFOS) are known to selectively modulate the composition of the intestinal microbiota and especially to stimulate Bifidobacteria. In parallel, the involvement of intestinal microbiota in host metabolic regulation has been recently highlighted. The objective of the study was to evaluate the effect of scFOS on the composition of the faecal microbiota and on metabolic parameters in an animal model of diet-induced obesity harbouring a human-type microbiota. Forty eight axenic C57BL/6J mice were inoculated with a sample of faecal human microbiota and randomly assigned to one of 3 diets for 7 weeks: a control diet, a high fat diet (HF, 60% of energy derived from fat)) or an isocaloric HF diet containing 10% of scFOS (HF-scFOS). Mice fed with the two HF gained at least 21% more weight than mice from the control group. Addition of scFOS partially abolished the deposition of fat mass but significantly increased the weight of the caecum. The analysis of the taxonomic composition of the faecal microbiota by FISH technique revealed that the addition of scFOS induced a significant increase of faecal Bifidobacteria and the Clostridium coccoides group whereas it decreased the Clostridium leptum group. In addition to modifying the composition of the faecal microbiota, scFOS most prominently affected the faecal metabolome (e.g. bile acids derivatives, hydroxyl monoenoic fatty acids) as well as urine, plasma hydrophilic and plasma lipid metabolomes. The increase in C. coccoides and the decrease in C. leptum, were highly correlated to these metabolic changes, including insulinaemia, as well as to the weight of the caecum (empty and full) but not the increase in Bifidobacteria. In conclusion scFOS induce profound metabolic changes by modulating the composition and the activity of the intestinal microbiota, that may partly explain their effect on the reduction of insulinaemia.     

Colonic Lesions,Cytokine Profiles,and Gut Microbiota in Plasminogen-Deficient Mice

Plasminogen-deficient (FVB/NPan-plg^tm1Jld, plg^tm1Jld) mice, which are widely used as a wound-healing model, are prone to spontaneous rectal prolapses. The aims of this study were 1) to evaluate the fecal microbiome of plg^tm1Jld mice for features that might contribute to the development of rectal prolapses and colonic inflammation and 2) to assess the relevance of the inflammatory phenotype to the variability in wound healing in this model. The plg^tm1Jld mice exhibited delayed wound healing, and they could be divided into 3 distinct groups that differed according to the time until wound closure. Colonic lesions in plg^tm1Jld mice, which were characterized by necrotizing ulcerations and cystically dilated glands, were restricted to the intermediate and distal parts of the colon. The cytokine profile was indicative of chronic tissue damage, but the genetic modification did not change the composition of the gut microbiota, and none of the clinical or biochemical parameters correlated with the gut microbiota composition.Several studies using plasminogen-deficient (plg^tmJld) mice have demonstrated that plasminogen, the proenzyme of plasmin, can degrade fibrin and other extracellular matrix proteins.⁴⁴ Plasminogen is essential for wound healing in skin,⁴⁰ which begins with inflammation, followed by epithelial proliferation, and thereafter tissue remodeling. Because the migrating keratinocytes of plg^tm1Jld mice have a decreased ability to dissect the platelet-rich fibrin matrix, they exhibit severely impaired wound healing.^15,40 In addition, plasmin mediates various pathologic processes, such as tumor growth and cancer metastasis,⁸ and therapeutic intervention related to plasminogen has shown encouraging results in experimental tumors.³¹ Therefore, one important application of these mice is the induction of wound healing to study basic mechanistic functions of plasmin, such as the clearance of the extracellular matrix and activation of tumor growth factors.³¹Spontaneous rectal prolapse and colonic ulceration in plg^tm1Jld mice compromise studies using these mice by leading to loss of body weight (wasting disease)⁶ and wellbeing-related, early study termination.⁶ Like other inflammatory conditions, rectal prolapse and chronic colonic inflammation might affect wound healing and contribute to the wide interindividual variation in the wound-healing processes of plg^tm1Jld mice.^28,40The development of rectal prolapses and colonic ulcerations in plg^tm1Jld mice reportedly is due to vascular occlusion.⁶ This pathologic condition is alleviated by superimposing fibrinogen deficiency on plasminogen deficiency, suggesting that fibrin is the primary substrate for plasmin.^7,15 The wide variation in effective tissue remodeling during the wound healing of plasminogen-deficient mice remains unexplained.Wound healing depends to a large extent on cells and factors of the immune system.^3,53 We previously have shown that disease development in mouse models for various inflammatory conditions, including type 1 diabetes,^17-19,35 type 2 diabetes,^4,13,42 atopic dermatitis³⁰ and inflammatory bowel disease,²⁰ is influenced by the composition of gut microbiota. Therefore, gut inflammation can be presumed to interfere with wound healing and thus may increase the uncontrolled interindividual variation in these models. In addition, gut inflammatory conditions in humans, such as inflammatory bowel disease⁴³ and irritable bowel syndrome,²³ are linked to dysbiosis in the intestine. In mice deficient in IL10 or IL2 and in rats carrying HLA-B27,⁵² inflammatory bowel disease can be alleviated by germ-free status^10,49,52 or ampicillin.²⁰ However, the possible role of the gut microbiome in rectal prolapse, colonic lesions, and wound healing in plasminogen-deficient mice has not previously been assessed.The aims of the current study were 1) to evaluate the fecal microbiome of plg^tm1Jld mice and their unaffected WT littermates for features that might contribute to their rectal prolapse and colonic inflammation phenotypes and 2) to assess the relevance of the inflammatory phenotype to the variability in wound healing in this model.     

性激素变化对小鼠肠道菌群构成的影响

肠道菌群在维持宿主免疫和消化系统功能方面发挥着重要作用,肠道菌群的多样性和丰富度是衡量宿主健康状况的重要生理指标。性激素对动物生长发育发挥重要作用,但其对肠道菌群构成影响的相关实验研究相对较少。本研究以模式生物小鼠（Mus musculus）为对象,探究性激素的变化对小鼠肠道菌群构成的影响。采用外科手术方式建立小鼠去势模型,通过16S r RNA高通量测序技术,研究性激素对小鼠肠道菌群构成的影响。研究结果表明,雌性小鼠和雄性小鼠去势后,性激素水平显著下降。肠道菌群在门水平上,正常小鼠和去势小鼠肠道细菌群落均由拟杆菌门（Bacteroidetes）、厚壁菌门（Firmicutes）、变形菌门（Proteobacteria）、埃普西隆杆菌门（Epsilonbacteraeota）、髌骨细菌门（Patescibacteria）、放线菌门（Actinobacteria）、软壁菌门（Tenericutes）、脱铁杆菌门（Deferribacteres）、酸杆菌门（Acidobacteria）和蓝藻细菌门（Cyanobacteria）组成,主要菌群为厚壁菌门和拟杆菌门物种,两门占物种相对丰度百分比...     

Response of Gut Microbiota to Fasting and Hibernation in Syrian Hamsters

Although hibernating mammals wake occasionally to eat during torpor, this period represents a state of fasting. Fasting is known to alter the gut microbiota in nonhibernating mammals; therefore, hibernation may also affect the gut microbiota. However, there are few reports of gut microbiota in hibernating mammals. The present study aimed to compare the gut microbiota in hibernating torpid Syrian hamsters with that in active counterparts by using culture-independent analyses. Hamsters were allocated to either torpid, fed active, or fasted active groups. Hibernation was successfully induced by maintaining darkness at 4°C. Flow cytometry analysis of cecal bacteria showed that 96-h fasting reduced the total gut bacteria. This period of fasting also reduced the concentrations of short chain fatty acids in the cecal contents. In contrast, total bacterial numbers and concentrations of short chain fatty acids were unaffected by hibernation. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis of PCR-amplified 16S rRNA gene fragments indicated that fasting and hibernation modulated the cecal microbiota. Analysis of 16S rRNA clone library and species-specific real-time quantitative PCR showed that the class Clostridia predominated in both active and torpid hamsters and that populations of Akkermansia muciniphila, a mucin degrader, were increased by fasting but not by hibernation. From these results, we conclude that the gut microbiota responds differently to fasting and hibernation in Syrian hamsters.Some mammalian species have evolved with the physiological phenomenon of hibernation to survive unfavorable winter environments (9). Hibernation is realized by entering torpor in order to eliminate the need to maintain a constant, high body temperature. During torpor, typical hibernating mammals, such as hamsters and ground squirrels, lower their body temperature to only a few degrees above ambient temperatures to reduce energy expenditure. Torpor is interrupted by periods of intense metabolic activity. During these interbout arousals, physiological parameters are restored rapidly to near-normal levels. Thus, hibernators alternate between hypothermic and euthermic states during hibernation.Some hibernating mammals awake to forage during torpor, while food-storing hibernators such as hamsters eat cached food during interbout arousals. However, hibernation essentially involves periods of fasting. Fasting is known to affect the gut microbiota in nonhibernating mammals such as mice (12); therefore, it is possible that hibernation also influences the gut microbiota. Given that the gut microbiota plays important roles in mammalian tissue development and homeostasis (28), it was of interest to investigate the changes in the gut microbiota that may take place during hibernation. To date, this issue has received little attention; to our knowledge, there are only two reports on the gut microbiota in hibernating mammals. Schmidt et al. showed that although the total counts of coliforms, streptococci, and psychrophilic organisms in the feces of arctic ground squirrels held in a cold room at 3°C remained constant the composition changed, with a decrease in coliform count and a 1,000-fold increase in the number of aerobic psychrophilic gram-negative bacteria (31). Barnes and Burton reported that although there was some reduction in total numbers of viable bacteria in the cecum during hibernation, composition of the microbiota remained stable (6). In terms of amphibians, Banas et al. and Gossling et al. reported a reduction and compositional changes of the gut microbiota in hibernating leopard frogs (4, 5, 18, 19).Only 20 to 40% of bacterial species from the mammalian intestinal tract can be cultured and identified using classical culture methods (22, 34, 36). In contrast, culture-independent methods based on the amplification of bacterial 16S rRNA genes by PCR have revealed a great diversity of microbiota in environmental samples (3, 37). The present study compared the gut microbiota in hibernating torpid Syrian hamsters with that in active counterparts by using culture-independent analyses.     

High Fat Diet-Induced Gut Microbiota Exacerbates Inflammation and Obesity in Mice via the TLR4 Signaling Pathway

Background & Aims

While it is widely accepted that obesity is associated with low-grade systemic inflammation, the molecular origin of the inflammation remains unknown. Here, we investigated the effect of endotoxin-induced inflammation via TLR4 signaling pathway at both systemic and intestinal levels in response to a high-fat diet.

Methods

C57BL/6J and TLR4-deficient C57BL/10ScNJ mice were maintained on a low-fat (10 kcal % fat) diet (LFD) or a high–fat (60 kcal % fat) diet (HFD) for 8 weeks.

Results

HFD induced macrophage infiltration and inflammation in the adipose tissue, as well as an increase in the circulating proinflammatory cytokines. HFD increased both plasma and fecal endotoxin levels and resulted in dysregulation of the gut microbiota by increasing the Firmicutes to Bacteriodetes ratio. HFD induced the growth of Enterobecteriaceae and the production of endotoxin in vitro. Furthermore, HFD induced colonic inflammation, including the increased expression of proinflammatory cytokines, the induction of Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), iNOS, COX-2, and the activation of NF-κB in the colon. HFD reduced the expression of tight junction-associated proteins claudin-1 and occludin in the colon. HFD mice demonstrated higher levels of Akt and FOXO3 phosphorylation in the colon compared to the LFD mice. While the body weight of HFD-fed mice was significantly increased in both TLR4-deficient and wild type mice, the epididymal fat weight and plasma endotoxin level of HFD-fed TLR4-deficient mice were 69% and 18% of HFD-fed wild type mice, respectively. Furthermore, HFD did not increase the proinflammatory cytokine levels in TLR4-deficient mice.

Conclusions

HFD induces inflammation by increasing endotoxin levels in the intestinal lumen as well as in the plasma by altering the gut microbiota composition and increasing its intestinal permeability through the induction of TLR4, thereby accelerating obesity.     

The Gut Microbiota Modulates Glycaemic Control and Serum Metabolite Profiles in Non-Obese Diabetic Mice

Islet autoimmunity in children who later progress to type 1 diabetes is preceded by dysregulated serum metabolite profiles, but the origin of these metabolic changes is unknown. The gut microbiota affects host metabolism and changes in its composition contribute to several immune-mediated diseases; however, it is not known whether the gut microbiota is involved in the early metabolic disturbances in progression to type 1 diabetes. We rederived non-obese diabetic (NOD) mice as germ free to explore the potential role of the gut microbiota in the development of diabetic autoimmunity and to directly investigate whether the metabolic profiles associated with the development of type 1 diabetes can be modulated by the gut microbiota. The absence of a gut microbiota in NOD mice did not affect the overall diabetes incidence but resulted in increased insulitis and levels of interferon gamma and interleukin 12; these changes were counterbalanced by improved peripheral glucose metabolism. Furthermore, we observed a markedly increased variation in blood glucose levels in the absence of a microbiota in NOD mice that did not progress to diabetes. Additionally, germ-free NOD mice had a metabolite profile similar to that of pre-diabetic children. Our data suggest that germ-free NOD mice have reduced glycaemic control and dysregulated immunologic and metabolic responses.     

Gut Microbiota Promote Hematopoiesis to Control Bacterial Infection

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The Gut Microbiota Composition in Dichorionic Triplet Sets Suggests a Role for Host Genetic Factors

Monozygotic and dizygotic twin studies investigating the relative roles of host genetics and environmental factors in shaping gut microbiota composition have produced conflicting results. In this study, we investigated the gut microbiota composition of a healthy dichorionic triplet set. The dichorionic triplet set contained a pair of monozygotic twins and a fraternal sibling, with similar pre- and post-natal environmental conditions including feeding regime. V4 16S rRNA and rpoB amplicon pyrosequencing was employed to investigate microbiota composition, and the species and strain diversity of the culturable bifidobacterial population was also examined. At month 1, the monozygotic pair shared a similar microbiota distinct to the fraternal sibling. By month 12 however, the profile was more uniform between the three infants. Principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) of the microbiota composition revealed strong clustering of the monozygotic pair at month 1 and a separation of the fraternal infant. At months 2 and 3 the phylogenetic distance between the monozygotic pair and the fraternal sibling has greatly reduced and by month 12 the monozygotic pair no longer clustered separately from the fraternal infant. Pulse field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) analysis of the bifidobacterial population revealed a lack of strain diversity, with identical strains identified in all three infants at month 1 and 12. The microbiota of two antibiotic-treated dichorionic triplet sets was also investigated. Not surprisingly, in both triplet sets early life antibiotic administration appeared to be a major determinant of microbiota composition at month 1, irrespective of zygosity. By month 12, early antibiotic administration appeared to no longer exert such a strong influence on gut microbiota composition. We hypothesize that initially host genetics play a significant role in the composition of an individual’s gut microbiota, unless an antibiotic intervention is given, but by month 12 environmental factors are the major determinant.