Remely Marlene, Dworzak Simone, Hippe Berit, Zwielehner Jutta, Aumueller Eva, Brath Helmut and Haslberger Alexander
Inflammatory reactions leading to the progression of metabolic syndrome contribute to changes in composition of the GIT microbiota.
We characterize fecal microbiota at three time points in fourteen obese participants, nineteen lean controls and twenty-four type 2 diabetes patients. Obese and type 2 diabetics received an intervention of nutritional counseling, type 2 diabetics an additional therapy with a GLP-1-Agonist.The microbiota composition was analyzed for abundance and diversity by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction, denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis and high throughput sequencing.
In type 2 diabetics an increase of diversity was observed with intervention whereas the values of lean controls remained unaffected. In the lean and obesity groups, a lower Firmicutes:Bacteroidetes ratio correlated with lower BMI. In type 2 diabetics the ratio of Firmicutes to Bacteroidetes increased throughout the intervention period. Type 2 diabetics showed a significantly enhanced proportion of lactic acid bacteria before and after intervention, also Akkermansia and Enterobacteria showed a higher abundance in type 2 diabetics, increasing throughout the study period. Archaea were significantly more frequent in type 2 diabetics.
Whether differences seen in the abundance of certain groups and in the diversity of microbiota reflect different underlying inflammatory mechanisms of type 2 diabetes and obesity or rather the progression of the metabolic disease remains unclear and needs long-term investigation.