Synbiotic-driven improvement of metabolic disturbances is associated with changes in the gut microbiome in diet-induced obese mice

Abstract

Objective The gut microbiota is an important influencing factor of metabolic health. Although dietary interventions with probiotics, prebiotics, and synbiotics can be effective means to regulate obesity and associated comorbidities, the underlying shifts in gut microbial communities, especially at the functional level, have not been characterized in great details. In this study, we sought to investigate the effects of synbiotics on the regulation of gut microbiota and the alleviation of high-fat diet (HFD)-induced metabolic disorders in mice. Methods Specific pathogen-free (SPF) male C57BL/6J mice were fed diets with either 10% (normal diet, ND) or 60% (high-fat diet, HFD) of total calories from fat (lard). Dietary interventions in the HFD-fed mice included (i) probiotic ( Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis and Lactobacillus paracasei subsp. paracasei DSM 46331), (ii) prebiotic (oat β-glucan), and (iii) synbiotic (a mixture of i and ii) treatments for 12 weeks. Besides detailed characterization of host metabolic parameters, a multi-omics approach was used to systematically profile the microbial signatures at both the phylogenetic and functional levels using 16S rRNA gene sequencing, metaproteomics and targeted metabolomics analysis. Results The synbiotic intervention significantly reduced body weight gain and alleviated features of metabolic complications. At the phylogenetic level, the synbiotic treatment significantly reversed HFD-induced changes in microbial populations, both in terms of richness and the relative abundance of specific taxa. Potentially important species such as Faecalibaculum rodentium and Alistipes putredinis that might mediate the beneficial effects of the synbiotic were identified. At the functional level, short-chain fatty acid and bile acid profiles revealed that all dietary interventions significantly restored cecal levels of acetate, propionate, and butyrate, while the synbiotic treatment reduced the bile acid pools most efficiently. Metaproteomics revealed that the effects of the synbiotic intervention might be mediated through metabolic pathways involved in carbohydrate, amino acid, and energy metabolisms. Conclusions Our results suggested that dietary intervention using the novel synbiotic can alleviate HFD-induced weight gain and restore gut microbial ecosystem homeostasis phylogenetically and functionally.

Calcipotriol and iBRD9 reduce obesity in Nur77 knockout mice by regulating the gut microbiota, improving intestinal mucosal barrier function

“…Akkermansiaceae plays an important role in maintaining intestinal homeostasis, and it has been extensively studied in diseases such as obesity and inflammatory bowel disease [29][30][31]. In addition, we detected four groups of differentially abundant bacteria, including Rikenellaceae, and studies show that Rikenellaceae abundance increases in high-fat-fed mice [32,33] and that Rikenellaceae is positively correlated with body fat percentage and fat mass (Fig. 3e, f), which is consistent with reports in humans [34].…”

Following the community development of SIHUMIx – a new intestinal in vitro model for bioreactor use

“…Microbial composition of SIHUMIx was analyzed based on the abundance of species-specific proteins. 26,27 The relative species abundances of SIHUMIx from bioreactor A and B on day 1 and day 5, respectively, were very similar ( Figure 3b, Supplemental file 1: Table S6). The communities on day 1 mainly comprised of E. coli, B. producta, A. caccae and B. thetaiotaomicron.…”

Gut Microbiota Mediates the Protective Effects of Andrographolide Inhibits Inflammation and Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease(NAFLD) in High-Fat Diet induced ApoE(-/-) Mice

“…Pearson correlation showed it dramatically associated with inflammatory cytokines. Potentially important species such as Faecalibaculum might mediate the beneficial effects of metabolic disturbances in diet-induced obese mice (53). It was reported that Faecalibaculum were identified as the biomarkers for intestinal redox state on hyperlipidemia in HFD-fed mice.…”