Project description:We found that low protein diet consumption resulted in decrease in the percentage of normal Paneth cell population in wild type mice, indicating that low protein diet could negatively affect Paneth cell function. We performed fecal microbiota composition profiling. Male mice were used at 4-5 weeks of age. Fecal samples were collected for microbiome analysis.
Project description:We found that western diet consumption resulted in decrease in the percentage of normal Paneth cell population in wild type mice, indicating that western diet could negatively affect Paneth cell function. Subsequent generations of western diet consumption further reduced percentages of normal Paneth cell population. We performed fecal microbiota composition profiling. Male mice were used at 4-5 weeks of age. Fecal samples were collected for microbiome analysis.
Project description:FastQ files from 16S sequencing of fecal samples from pancreatic cancer xenografted mice not treated (CTRL) and treated with chemotherapy (GEM+nab-PTX), probiotics (PRO) and chemotherapy + probiotics (GEM+nab-PTX+PRO)
Project description:Morphine causes microbial dysbiosis. In this study we focused on restoration of native microbiota in morphine treated mice and looked at the extent of restoration and immunological consequences of this restoration. Fecal transplant has been successfully used clinically, especially for treating C. difficile infection2528. With our expanding knowledge of the central role of microbiome in maintenance of host immune homeostasis17, fecal transplant is gaining importance as a therapy for indications resulting from microbial dysbiosis. There is a major difference between fecal transplant being used for the treatment of C. difficile infection and the conditions described in our studies. The former strategy is based on the argument that microbial dysbiosis caused by disproportionate overgrowth of a pathobiont can be out-competed by re-introducing the missing flora by way of a normal microbiome transplant. This strategy is independent of host factors and systemic effects on the microbial composition. Here, we show that microbial dysbiosis caused due to morphine can be reversed by transplantation of microbiota from the placebo-treated animals.
Project description:Opioids such as morphine have many beneficial properties as analgesics, however, opioids may induce multiple adverse gastrointestinal symptoms. We have recently demonstrated that morphine treatment results in significant disruption in gut barrier function leading to increased translocation of gut commensal bacteria. However, it is unclear how opioids modulate the gut homeostasis. By using a mouse model of morphine treatment, we studied effects of morphine treatment on gut microbiome. We characterized phylogenetic profiles of gut microbes, and found a significant shift in the gut microbiome and increase of pathogenic bacteria following morphine treatment when compared to placebo. In the present study, wild type mice (C57BL/6J) were implanted with placebo, morphine pellets subcutaneously. Fecal matter were taken for bacterial 16s rDNA sequencing analysis at day 3 post treatment. A scatter plot based on an unweighted UniFrac distance matrics obtained from the sequences at OTU level with 97% similarity showed a distinct clustering of the community composition between the morphine and placebo treated groups. By using the chao1 index to evaluate alpha diversity (that is diversity within a group) and using unweighted UniFrac distance to evaluate beta diversity (that is diversity between groups, comparing microbial community based on compositional structures), we found that morphine treatment results in a significant decrease in alpha diversity and shift in fecal microbiome at day 3 post treatment compared to placebo treatment. Taxonomical analysis showed that morphine treatment results in a significant increase of potential pathogenic bacteria. Our study shed light on effects of morphine on the gut microbiome, and its role in the gut homeostasis.
Project description:Habitual exercise modulates the composition of the intestinal microbiota. We examined whether transplanting fecal microbiota from trained mice improved skeletal muscle metabolism in high-fat diet-fed mice. The recipient mice that received fecal samples from trained donor mice for 1 week showed elevated levels of metabolic signalings in skeletal muscle. Glucose tolerance was improved by fecal microbiota transplantation after 8 weeks of HFD administration. Intestinal microbiota may mediate exercise-induced metabolic improvement in mice. We performed a microarray analysis to compare the metabolic gene expression profiles in the skeletal muscle from each mouse.
Project description:We performed a high-throughput, multiplexed quantitative proteomics analysis to determine protein abundance changes produced by BML-111 treatment in EAM and Ctrl mice. EAM was induced in 7 weeks-old BALB/c female mice by immunization at days 0 and 7 with a subcutaneous injection of 350 μg of murine cardiac myosin (MyHCα) in a 1:1 emulsion with complete Freund’s Adjuvant (SIGMA). MyHCα was isolated from hearts of Balb/c mice; control mice were injected with a 1:1 emulsion of physiological saline solution with complete Freund’s Adjuvant. Mice were treated daily for two weeks from day 7 by intraperitoneal injection with two complementary treatments: 1mg/Kg BML-111(Enzo Life Science) or its vehicle (2.5% ethanol). The proteomics analysis was performed in heart tissue protein extracts (four animals per group: Ctrl+Veh, EAM+Veh, Ctrl+BML and EAM+BML.
Project description:Aging is associated with declining immunity and inflammation as well as alterations in the gut microbiome with a decrease of beneficial microbes and increase in pathogenic ones. The aim of this study was to investigate aging associated gut microbiome in relation to immunologic and metabolic profile in a non-human primate (NHP) model. 12 old (age>18 years) and 4 young (age 3-6 years) Rhesus macaques were included in this study. Immune cell subsets were characterized in PBMC by flow cytometry and plasma cytokines levels were determined by bead based multiplex cytokine analysis. Stool samples were collected by ileal loop and investigated for microbiome analysis by shotgun metagenomics. Serum, gut microbial lysate and microbe-free fecal extract were subjected to metabolomic analysis by mass-spectrometry. Our results showed that the old animals exhibited higher inflammatory biomarkers in plasma and lower CD4 T cells with altered distribution of naïve and memory T cell maturation subsets. The gut microbiome in old animals had higher abundance of Archaeal and Proteobacterial species and lower Firmicutes than the young. Significant enrichment of metabolites that contribute to inflammatory and cytotoxic pathways was observed in serum and feces of old animals compared to the young. We conclude that aging NHP undergo immunosenescence and age associated alterations in the gut microbiome that has a distinct metabolic profile.
Project description:Complex oligosaccharides found in human milk play a vital role in gut microbiome development for the human infant. Bovine milk oligosaccharides (BMO) have similar structures with those derived from human milk, but have not been well studied for their effects on the healthy adult human gut microbiome. Healthy human subjects consumed BMO over two-week periods at two different doses and provided fecal samples. Metatranscriptomics of fecal samples was conducted to determine microbial and host gene expression in response to the supplement. Fecal samples were also analyzed by mass spectrometry to determine levels of undigested BMO. No changes were observed in microbiome activity across all participants. Repeated sampling enabled subject-specific analyses: four of six participants had minor, yet statistically significant, changes in microbial activity. No significant change was observed in the gene expression of host cells in stool. Levels of BMO excreted in feces after supplementation were not significantly different from placebo and were not correlated with dosage or expressed microbial enzyme levels. Collectively, these data suggest that BMO is fully digested in the human gastrointestinal tract prior to stool collection. Participants’ gut microbiomes remained stable but varied between individuals. Additionally, the unaltered host transcriptome provides further evidence for the safety of BMO as a dietary supplement or food ingredient.
Project description:In rodents, brown adipose tissue (BAT) contributes to whole body energy expenditure and low BAT activity is related to hepatic fat accumulation, partially attributable to the gut microbiome. Little is known of these relationships in humans. In adults (n=60), we assessed hepatic fat and cold-stimulated BAT activity utilizing magnetic resonance imaging and the gut microbiome with 16S sequencing. We transplanted gnotobiotic mice with feces from humans to assess the transferability of BAT activity and NAFLD through the microbiome. Individuals with NAFLD (n=29) had lower BAT activity than those without and BAT activity was inversely related to hepatic fat. Although the fecal microbiome was different in those with NAFLD, no differences were observed in relation to BAT activity and neither of these phenotypic traits were transmissible through fecal transplant to gnotobiotic mice. Thus, low BAT activity is associated with hepatic steatosis but this is not mediated through the gut microbiota.