Impact of Vitamin D Deficit on the Rat Gut Microbiome

Abstract

Inadequate immunologic, metabolic and cardiovascular homeostasis has been related to either an alteration of the gut microbiota or to vitamin D deficiency. We analyzed whether vitamin D deficiency alters rat gut microbiota. Male Wistar rats were fed a standard or a vitamin D-free diet for seven weeks. The microbiome composition was determined in fecal samples by 16S rRNA gene sequencing. The vitamin D-free diet produced mild changes on α- diversity but no effect on β-diversity in the global microbiome. Markers of gut dysbiosis like Firmicutes-to-Bacteroidetes ratio or the short chain fatty acid producing bacterial genera were not significantly affected by vitamin D deficiency. Notably, there was an increase in the relative abundance of the Enterobacteriaceae, with significant rises in its associated genera Escherichia, Candidatus blochmannia and Enterobacter in vitamin D deficient rats. Prevotella and Actinomyces were also increased and Odoribacteraceae and its genus Butyricimonas were decreased in rats with vitamin D-free diet. In conclusion, vitamin D deficit does not induce gut dysbiosis but produces some specific changes in bacterial taxa, which may play a pathophysiological role in the immunologic dysregulation associated with this hypovitaminosis.

A Multi-Omic Analysis for Low Bone Mineral Density in Postmenopausal Women Suggests a Relationship between Diet, Metabolites, and Microbiota

“…Here, for the first time, vitamin D-deficiency-associated alterations in the microbiota in postmenopausal women were reported. Although several uncontrolled or human observational studies have been published, those studies are on experimental animals [ 51 , 52 ]. Interestingly, the intestinal microbiota of women with vitamin D-deficiency was related to Erysipelotrichaceae and Veillonellaceae abundance compared to the vitamin D non-deficient group.…”

Association between Altered Blood Parameters and Gut Microbiota after Synbiotic Intake in Healthy, Elderly Korean Women

“…Statistical taxonomic comparisons were performed using linear. discriminant analysis effect size (LEfSe) analysis on the Galaxy Hutlab online platform (Hutlab, Boston, Massachusetts, USA; ) [ 41 , 42 ]. LEfSe is a tool developed to find biomarkers between two or more groups using relative abundances, and linear discriminant analysis (LDA) explicitly attempts to model the difference between the classes of data.…”

Impact of Nutrition on Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension

“…In addition, it has been reported that some dietary components such as sweeteners, minerals, and vitamins can modify the microbiota. Remarkably, some of the nutrients with an impact on PAH progression, as described above, such as iron and vitamin D deficiency as well as quercetin and resveratrol significantly affect the intestinal microbiota [135][136][137]. Therefore, besides the aforementioned mechanisms of action of these dietary components, the changes in the gut microbiota may also be responsible of the actions of iron, vitamin D, or polyphenols.…”