Diabetes-associated alterations in the cecal microbiome and metabolome are independent of diet or environment in the UC Davis type 2-diabetes mellitus rat model | UAMS Department of Biomedical Informatics

AJP-Endocrinology and Metabolism, in the press, July 2018

Brian Piccolo, James Graham, Kimber Stanhope, Intawat Nookaew, Kelly Mecer, Sree Chintapalli, Umesh Wankhade, Kartik Shankar, Peter Havel, Sean Adams

Abstract

Many factors contribute to, or can modify, the development of diseases such as obesity and type 2 diabetes, including the naturally occurring bacteria residing in the gut (that make up the “gut microbiome”). Most studies have focused on how diet changes the gut bacteria in a negative way to cause obesity and type 2 diabetes, but little attention has been given to how changes in host health status influences the bacteria. We used a rodent model of diabetes that does not require a change in diet to develop obesity and diabetes, to understand which gut bacteria change and how the gut environment changes during the progression of these diseases. We found very few changes between groups from earlier stages of diabetes, but large changes in specific bacteria and bacterial genes when comparing rats from earlier stages versus rats from groups in later stages of uncontrolled diabetes…