Inulin Supplementation Lowered the Metabolic Defects of Prolonged Exposure to Chlorpyrifos from Gestation to Young Adult Stage in Offspring Rats

Abstract

Increasing evidence indicates that chlorpyrifos (CPF), an organophosphorus insecticide, is involved in metabolic disorders. We assess the hypothesis whether supplementation with prebiotics from gestation to adulthood, through a modulation of microbiota composition and fermentative activity, alleviates CPF induced metabolic disorders of 60 days old offspring. 5 groups of Wistar rats, from gestation until weaning, received two doses of CPF pesticide: 1 mg/kg/day (CPF1) or 3.5 mg/kg/day (CPF3.5) with free access to inulin (10g/L in drinking water). Then male pups received the same treatment as dams. Metabolic profile, leptin sensitivity, insulin receptor (IR) expression in liver, gut microbiota composition and short chain fatty acid composition (SCFAs) in the colon, were analyzed at postnatal day 60 in the offspring (PND 60). CPF3.5 increased offspring’s birth body weight (BW) but decreased BW at PND60. Inulin supplementation restored the BW at PND 60 to control levels. Hyperinsulinemia and decrease in insulin receptor β in liver were seen in CPF1 exposed rats. In contrast, hyperglycemia and decrease in insulin level were found in CPF3.5 rats. Inulin restored the levels of some metabolic parameters in CPF groups to ranges comparable with the controls. The total bacterial population, short chain fatty acid (SCFA) production and butyrate levels were enhanced in CPF groups receiving inulin. Our data indicate that developmental exposure to CPF interferes with metabolism with dose related effects evident at adulthood. By modulating microbiota population and fermentative activity, inulin corrected adult metabolic disorders of rats exposed to CPF during development. Prebiotics supply may be thus considered as a novel nutritional strategy to counteract insulin resistance and diabetes induced by a continuous pesticide exposure.

Traditional Processed Meat Products Re-designed Towards Inulin-rich Functional Foods Reduce Polyps in Two Colorectal Cancer Animal Models

“…High values for this coefficient (high Firmicutes populations) are usually associated with inflammation-associated diseases, such as diabetes or obesity 51,52 . In this work, the higher proportion of Bacteroidetes phylum (but also Proteobacteria ) observed in the inulin functional meat cohort is in accordance with the microbiota results in other studies with inulin 53–55 .…”

How to Feed the Mammalian Gut Microbiota: Bacterial and Metabolic Modulation by Dietary Fibers

“…Analyses of the microbiota composition following 2 weeks of I intervention, revealed an enrichment in bacterial genera belonging to the Bacteroidetes phylum ( Figure 3A ) (from 53 to 65%, not statistically significant) as well as of the Proteobacteria phylum (from 3 to 9%, p -value = 0.006), with a concomitant decrease of Firmicutes (from 41 to 23%, not statistically significant). A similar gut microbiota modulation by I has been described previously ( Van den Abbeele et al, 2013 ; Reygner et al, 2016 ).…”

Oxidative Stress in NAFLD: Role of Nutrients and Food Contaminants

“…Experimental studies evaluating the consequences of pesticide exposure during the critical window of pre- and postnatal development (pregnancy and lactation) confirm that early life exposure to pesticides may have a role in metabolic disruption later in life ( Table 1 ). A metabolic impact of perinatal exposure to pesticides in animal models has been reported for insecticides, such as chlorpyrifos [ 140 , 166 ] and imidacloprid [ 142 ]; herbicides, such as glyphosate [ 150 ] and 2–4 dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) [ 155 ]; and pesticide mixtures [ 167 , 168 ]. The metabolic consequences of early life exposure to organophosphate have been reviewed previously [ 61 , 74 , 169 ].…”