Oligofructose restores postprandial short‐chain fatty acid levels during high‐fat feeding

Abstract

ObjectiveObesity is associated with consumption of a Western diet low in dietary fiber, while prebiotics reduce body weight. Fiber induces short‐chain fatty acid (SCFA) production, and SCFA administration is beneficial to host metabolic homeostasis. However, the role of endogenous SCFA signaling in the development of obesity is contentious. Therefore, the primary objective of this study is to evaluate the postprandial time course of SCFA production and uptake in healthy (chow‐fed), Western diet‐fed (high‐fat diet [HFD]) obese, and oligofructose‐treated HFD‐fed (HFD + OFS) rats.MethodsMale Sprague–Dawley rats were maintained on chow or HFD for 5 weeks, with or without supplementation of 10% OFS for 3 weeks. SCFAs were measured in the ileum, cecum, colon, portal vein, and vena cava at 0, 2, 4, 6, and 8 hours postprandially.ResultsPostprandial cecal and portal vein SCFAs were decreased in obese rats compared with lean chow controls, whereas no differences were observed in fasting SCFA concentrations. OFS supplementation increased SCFA levels in the cecum and portal vein during obesity. Butyrate levels were positively associated with portal glucagon‐like peptide 1 and adiposity and with Roseburia relative abundance.ConclusionsThe current study demonstrates that obesity is associated with reduced SCFA production, and that OFS supplementation increases SCFA levels. Additionally, postprandial butyrate production appears to be beneficial to host energy homeostasis.

Longitudinal Characterization of the Gut Microbiota in the Diabetic ZDSD Rat Model and Therapeutic Potential of Oligofructose

“…While OFS treatment was unable to fully rescue the severely impaired glucose homeostasis in the overt diabetic ZDSD rodents, it did increase bodyweight and adiposity. This is contrary to findings in HFD-fed obese and insulin resistant rodents, where OFS is known to reduce food intake and bodyweight [ 22 , 69 ]. However, this discrepancy is likely due to the diabetic state of the rat; unlike SD rats that continue to gain weight when on a HF diet, body weight of the ZDSD rats declined during overt diabetes.…”

“…In further support of the ZDSD rat as a translational model for T2D, we observed significant shifts in fecal SCFA levels from the healthy to diabetic phenotype. Although shifts in fecal and circulating SCFA levels vary between studies, generally, increases in acetate and decreases in butyrate are associated with impairments in energy and glucose metabolism [ 22 , 62 , 63 ]. We observed a significant increase in fecal acetate in diabetic ZDSD rats, which was associated with increased fasting glucose and decreased fed and fasting insulin.…”

“…Fecal and cecal microbiota of each animal was assessed based on the V4 fragment of 16S rRNA gene as we previously performed [ 20 , 21 ]. The DNA extraction and library preparation were performed as we described previously [ 20 , 22 ]. A 7.7 pM library spiked with 10% PhiX V3 Sequencing Control (Illumina, San Diego, CA, USA) was sequenced at Microbiome Core at the University of Arizona Steele Children’s Research Center on MiSeq platform (Illumina) using custom primers [ 23 ].…”

Human Amniotic Mesenchymal Stem Cells Alleviate aGVHD after allo-HSCT by Regulating Interactions between Gut Microbiota and Intestinal Immunity

“…To identify the underlying dominant bacteria mediated through hAMSCs transplantation, LEfSe analysis was conducted between the two groups. Compared to aGVHD group, hAMSCs treatment significantly increased the abundance of some beneficial microbes related to anti-inflammatory ◂ effects, such as Lachnospiraceae, Roseburia, Ruminococcaceae, Ruminiclostridium, Oscillibacter, and Clostridia, which were all described to be beneficial for gut microbiota metabolite SCFAs production [37][38][39][40][41][42]. Therefore, our observations indicated that after hAMSCs administration, the gut microbiota dysbiosis was ameliorated, which is manifested by the improved diversity and the increase relative abundance of beneficial bacteria.…”

Differential effects of plant-based flours on metabolic homeostasis and the gut microbiota in high-fat fed rats

“…Individual cecal microbiota were assessed based on the V4 fragment of 16S rRNA gene, as published previously [ 29 , 30 ]. As previously described, samples were mechanically disrupted with the TissueLyser II (MO BIO Laboratories) and total DNA from the cecal samples were purified using the QIAamp PowerFecal Pro DNA Kit (Qiagen) according to manufacturer protocol.…”