Divergent metabolic outcomes arising from targeted manipulation of the gut microbiota in diet-induced obesity

Abstract

Both vancomycin and the bacteriocin-producing probiotic altered the gut microbiota in diet-induced obese mice, but in distinct ways. Only vancomycin treatment resulted in an improvement in the metabolic abnormalities associated with obesity thereby establishing that while the gut microbiota is a realistic therapeutic target, the specificity of the antimicrobial agent employed is critical.

Functional interactions between the gut microbiota and host metabolism

“…Accumulating evidence indicates that the gut microbiota may be a target for treating metabolic diseases 81 . Supplementing the diet with nondigestible food ingredients, or prebiotics, that stimulate the expansion of specific microbes to improve metabolic regulation can be a therapy.…”

The human gut microbiota: a dynamic interplay with the host from birth to senescence settled during childhood

“…At the Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital (OPBG), an epidemiological survey is operative to evaluate dysbiosis impact on different stratified "healthy" children ( Figure 3a). Indeed dysbiosis is the prelude to a wide range of diseases, such as obesity (11,33), type 2 diabetes (33,34), liver steatosis (18,35), behavior abnormalities (36,37), atopy and allergy (38,39), metabolic disorders (40), inflammatory disorders (14,41), inflammatory bowel diseases (42), including enterocolitis, necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) (43,44), or Hirschsprung syndrome, progressively appearing during childhood (Figure 3b).…”

“…Burcelin et al (10) Human gut microbiota programming Review showed that C57BL6 mice, fed a high-fat diet, had metabolic phenotypes highly heterogeneous, with different levels of diabetes and obesity, suggesting a metabolic "epigenetic" adaptation unrelated to diet or genotype. Additionally, also antibiotic treatment of obese mice was described as an important dysbiotic effect affecting Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes vs. Proteobacteria ratio (11). Besides hyperglycemia (12), insulin resistance was associated with gut microbiota changes, even in patients with similar body weight, strongly correlating with obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus (13).…”

The microbiome and its pharmacological targets: therapeutic avenues in cardiometabolic diseases

“…Antibiotic therapy has been recently proposed as a therapeutic tool to help restore altered gut bacterial ecosystem in obese humans. Vancomycin, an antibiotic with anti-Gram negative activity, promoted a large reduction in Firmicutes, Bacterioidetes and Proteobacteria in a diet-induced obesity model [62]*. These changes were accompanied by a reduction in body weight gain and improved inflammatory and metabolic outcomes [62]*.…”

“…Vancomycin, an antibiotic with anti-Gram negative activity, promoted a large reduction in Firmicutes, Bacterioidetes and Proteobacteria in a diet-induced obesity model [62]*. These changes were accompanied by a reduction in body weight gain and improved inflammatory and metabolic outcomes [62]*. However, antibiotic use has important clinical limitations, since it is a non-selective approach that may compromise gut microbial ecosystem and select resistant strains, eventually leading to multiple drug resistance.…”