biostudies-literatureHan LWNICHD NIH HHSNCATS NIH HHSNIDA NIH HHSNIEHS NIH HHSFoundation for the National Institutes of HealthDMTPRe0248351https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC7954286biostudies-literatureUnknown16(3)Pregnancy is associated with metabolic changes to accommodate the mother and her growing fetus. The microbiome has been shown to modulate host metabolism of endogenous and exogenous substances. However, the combined effects of pregnancy and the microbiome on host metabolism have not been investigated. The objective of this study was to investigate how the microbiome affects overall hepatic metabolic processes during pregnancy. We assessed these changes within 4 groups of C57BL/6 mice: conventional non-pregnant, conventional pregnant, germ-free non-pregnant, and germ-free pregnant mice. We performed RNA-seq analysis on liver tissues and LC-MS/MS analysis of the plasma to assess the effects of pregnancy and the microbiome on hepatic transcriptome and untargeted plasma metabolome to describe PloS oneKey hepatic metabolic pathways are altered in germ-free mice during pregnancy.PMC7954286Drug Metabolism, Transport and Pharmacogenomic Research Program (DMTPR) from School of Pharmacy, University of WashingtonK99 HD096112TL1 TR000422P30 ES007033ES007033P01 DA032507TL1TR000422Han LWMao QPaquette ABammler TKShi YWang LfalseKey hepatic metabolic pathways are altered in germ-free mice during pregnancy.Pregnancy is associated with metabolic changes to accommodate the mother and her growing fetus. The microbiome has been shown to modulate host metabolism of endogenous and exogenous substances. However, the combined effects of pregnancy and the microbiome on host metabolism have not been investigated. The objective of this study was to investigate how the microbiome affects overall hepatic metabolic processes during pregnancy. We assessed these changes within 4 groups of C57BL/6 mice: conventional non-pregnant, conventional pregnant, germ-free non-pregnant, and germ-free pregnant mice. We performed RNA-seq analysis on liver tissues and LC-MS/MS analysis of the plasma to assess the effects of pregnancy and the microbiome on hepatic transcriptome and untargeted plasma metabolome to describe 2021-01-01T00:00:00Z20212026-04-13T03:12:45.326Z2025-02-19T02:12:56ZS-EPMC79542863371104910.1371/journal.pone.0248351