The Influence of Diet Change and Oral Metformin on Blood Glucose Regulation and the Fecal Microbiota of Healthy Horses.

ABSTRACT: Common treatments for Equine Metabolic Syndrome (EMS) and associated conditions include removal from pasture and adoption of an all-hay diet. Pharmacological treatments for EMS include metformin, a biguanide antihyperglycemic agent also administered to people to help improve glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity. Both treatments may work, at least partially, through the gut microbiota, yet little is known regarding these effects in the equine host. To determine the influence on the fecal microbiota of this diet change and administration of metformin, six healthy horses were removed from pasture and switched to an all-hay diet, with four of those horses also receiving oral metformin for seven days. Control horses (n = 24) remaining on pasture and receiving no metformin were sampl

SUBMITTER: Ericsson AC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8065426 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature