Non-invasive continuous real-time in vivo analysis of microbial hydrogen production shows adaptation to fermentable carbohydrates in mice

• Published in: Scientific reports Vol. 8; no. 1; pp. 15351 - 16
• Main Authors: Fernández-Calleja, José M. S., Konstanti, Prokopis, Swarts, Hans J. M., Bouwman, Lianne M. S., Garcia-Campayo, Vicenta, Billecke, Nils, Oosting, Annemarie, Smidt, Hauke, Keijer, Jaap, van Schothorst, Evert M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 18-10-2018; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 631/326/2522; 631/443/319/1557; 64/60; Animal models; Calorimetry; Carbohydrates; Circadian rhythms; Diet; Digestive system; Fysiologie van Mens en Dier; Gases; Gastrointestinal tract; Human and Animal Physiology; Humanities and Social Sciences; Hydrogen production; Intestinal microflora; Laboratorium voor Microbiologie; Leerstoelgroep Fysiologie van mens en dier; Methane; Microbial activity; Microbiological Laboratory; Microbiologie; Microbiology; Microbiota; multidisciplinary; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Starch; VLAG; WIAS; WIMEK; Fermentation Gas; SCFA Levels; Protein Fermentation; Indirect Calorimetry System; Short-chain Fatty Acids (SCFA)
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-33619-0

Real time
in vivo
methods are needed to better understand the interplay between diet and the gastrointestinal microbiota. Therefore, a rodent indirect calorimetry system was equipped with hydrogen (H
2
) and methane (CH
4
) sensors. H
2
production was readily detected in C57BL/6J mice and followed a circadian rhythm. H
2
production was increased within 12 hours after first exposure to a lowly-digestible starch diet (LDD) compared to a highly-digestible starch diet (HDD). Marked differences were observed in the faecal microbiota of animals fed the LDD and HDD diets. H
2
was identified as a key variable explaining the variation in microbial communities, with specific taxa (including
Bacteroides
and
Parasutterella
) correlating with H
2
production upon LDD-feeding. CH
4
production was undetectable which was in line with absence of CH
4
producers in the gut. We conclude that real-time
in vivo
monitoring of gases provides a non-invasive time-resolved system to explore the interplay between nutrition and gut microbes in a mouse model, and demonstrates potential for translation to other animal models and human studies.