Gut Microbiota Depletion Using Antibiotics to Investigate Diet-Derived Microbial Metabolites: An Efficient Strategy.

Scope: Gut microbiota depletion using antibiotics in drinking water is a valuable tool to investigate the role of gut microbes and microbial metabolites in health and disease. However, there are challenges associated with this model. Animals avoid drinking water because of the antibiotic bitterness, which affects their metabolic health.

Blueberry intervention mitigates detrimental microbial metabolite trimethylamine N-oxide by modulating gut microbes.

Gut microbes play a pivotal role in host physiology by producing beneficial or detrimental metabolites. Gut bacteria metabolize dietary choline and L-carnitine to trimethylamine (TMA) which is then converted to trimethylamine-N-oxide (TMAO). An elevated circulating TMAO is associated with diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease, and cancer in humans.

Breaking bugs: gut microbes metabolize dietary components and modulate vascular health.

Gut microbiota modulates host physiology and pathophysiology through the production of microbial metabolites. Diet is a crucial factor in shaping the microbiome, and gut microbes interact with the host by producing beneficial or detrimental diet-derived microbial metabolites. Evidence from our lab and others indicates that the interaction between diet and gut microbes plays a pivotal role in modulating vascular health.

Dose- and Time-Dependent Effect of Dietary Blueberries on Diabetic Vasculature Is Correlated with Gut Microbial Signature.

Evidence from our lab and others indicates the vascular effects of dietary blueberries. In the present study, we determined dietary blueberries' dose- and time-dependent effects on diabetic vasculature and their association with gut microbes. Seven-week-old / diabetic male mice were fed a diet supplemented with ± freeze-dried wild blueberry powder (FD-BB) for 4, 8, or 12 weeks (three cohorts).

Gut Microbes Are Associated with the Vascular Beneficial Effects of Dietary Strawberry on Metabolic Syndrome-Induced Vascular Inflammation.

Scope: Metabolic syndrome (MetS) alters the gut microbial ecology and increases the risk of cardiovascular disease. This study investigates whether strawberry consumption reduces vascular complications in an animal model of MetS and identifies whether this effect is associated with changes in the composition of gut microbes.

Methods And Results: Seven-week-old male mice consume diets with 10% (C) or 60% kcal from fat (high-fat diet fed mice; HF) for 12 weeks and subgroups are fed a 2.

Cordyceps inhibits ceramide biosynthesis and improves insulin resistance and hepatic steatosis.

Ectopic ceramide accumulation in insulin-responsive tissues contributes to the development of obesity and impairs insulin sensitivity. Moreover, pharmacological inhibition of serine palmitoyl transferase (SPT), the first enzyme essential for ceramide biosynthesis using myriocin in rodents reduces body weight and improves insulin sensitivity and associated metabolic indices. Myriocin was originally extracted from fruiting bodies of the fungus Isaria sinclairii and has been found abundant in a number of closely related fungal species such as the Cordyceps.

Dietary Blueberry Ameliorates Vascular Complications in Diabetic Mice Possibly through NOX4 and Modulates Composition and Functional Diversity of Gut Microbes.

Scope: In diabetes, endothelial inflammation and dysfunction play a pivotal role in the development of vascular disease. This study investigates the effect of dietary blueberries on vascular complications and gut microbiome in diabetic mice.

Methods And Results: Seven-week-old diabetic db/db mice consume a standard diet (db/db) or a diet supplemented with 3.