Project description:Age-dependent changes of the gut-associated microbiome have been linked to increased frailty and systemic inflammation. This study found that age-associated changes of the gut microbiome of BALB/c and C57BL/6 mice could be reverted by co-housing of aged (22 months old) and adult (3 months old) mice for 30-40 days or faecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) from adult into aged mice. This was demonstrated using high-throughput sequencing of the V3-V4 hypervariable region of bacterial 16S rRNA gene isolated from faecal pellets collected from 3-4 months old adult and 22-23 months old aged mice before and after co-housing or FMT.
Project description:Gut microbiota dysbiosis characterizes systemic metabolic alteration, yet its causality is debated. To address this issue, we transplanted antibiotic-free conventional wild-type mice with either dysbiotic (“obese”) or eubiotic (“lean”) gut microbiota and fed them either a NC or a 72%HFD. We report that, on NC, obese gut microbiota transplantation reduces hepatic gluconeogenesis with decreased hepatic PEPCK activity, compared to non-transplanted mice. Of note, this phenotype is blunted in conventional NOD2KO mice. By contrast, lean microbiota transplantation did not affect hepatic gluconeogenesis. In addition, obese microbiota transplantation changed both gut microbiota and microbiome of recipient mice. Interestingly, hepatic gluconeogenesis, PEPCK and G6Pase activity were reduced even once mice transplanted with the obese gut microbiota were fed a 72%HFD, together with reduced fed glycaemia and adiposity compared to non-transplanted mice. Notably, changes in gut microbiota and microbiome induced by the transplantation were still detectable on 72%HFD. Finally, we report that obese gut microbiota transplantation may impact on hepatic metabolism and even prevent HFD-increased hepatic gluconeogenesis. Our findings may provide a new vision of gut microbiota dysbiosis, useful for a better understanding of the aetiology of metabolic diseases. all livers are from NC-fed mice only.