Basic Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2023. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Diabetes. Mar 15, 2023; 14(3): 255-270
Published online Mar 15, 2023. doi: 10.4239/wjd.v14.i3.255
Characterization of gut microbial and metabolite alterations in faeces of Goto Kakizaki rats using metagenomic and untargeted metabolomic approach
Jin-Dong Zhao, Min Sun, Yan Li, Chan-Juan Yu, Ruo-Dong Cheng, Si-Hai Wang, Xue Du, Zhao-Hui Fang
Jin-Dong Zhao, Chan-Juan Yu, Ruo-Dong Cheng, Si-Hai Wang, Xue Du, Zhao-Hui Fang, Department of Endocrinology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui University of Chinese Medicine, Hefei 230031, Anhui Province, China
Jin-Dong Zhao, Graduate School, Anhui University of Chinese Medicine, Hefei 230012, Anhui Province, China
Min Sun, School of Life Sciences, Anhui University, Hefei 230039, Anhui Province, China
Yan Li, Department of Infectious Disease, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui University of Chinese Medicine, Hefei 230031, Anhui Province, China
Author contributions: Zhao JD and Fang ZH participated in the design of the study and wrote the manuscript; Sun M, Li Y, Yu CJ, Cheng RD, Wang SH and Du X performed the experiment and helped complete the data analysis; The final version of the manuscript was reviewed and approved by all the authors.
Supported by the University Scientific Research Projects of Anhui, No. KJ2020A0401 and 2022AH050491; the open fund of the Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Glucolipid Metabolic Disorder, No. GYDKFXM01; the Anhui University Collaborative Innovation Project, No. GXXT-2020-025; the National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 82174153; the National Key Research and Development Program, No. 2018YFC1704202; the Anhui Provincial Quality Engineering Project of Universities, No. 2021jyxm0834; the Major and Difficult Diseases Project of Anhui Province, No. 2021zdynjb06; and the Clinical Research Project of Anhui University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, No. 2021yfylc01.
Institutional review board statement: All authors declare that Institutional Review Board approval was not applicable for this study because it did not involve human beings.
Institutional animal care and use committee statement: The experiments were approved by the Animal Ethics Committee of Anhui Chinese Medicine University (Hefei, China, No. ahucm-rats-2021133).
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.
Data sharing statement: The data used to support the findings of this study are included within the article.
ARRIVE guidelines statement: The manuscript has been prepared and revised according to the ARRIVE guidelines.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Zhao-Hui Fang, PhD, Chief Doctor, Department of Endocrinology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui University of Chinese Medicine, No. 117 Meishan Road, Hefei 230031, Anhui Province, China. fangzhaohui1111@163.com
Received: December 2, 2022
Peer-review started: December 2, 2022
First decision: December 19, 2022
Revised: December 31, 2022
Accepted: February 7, 2023
Article in press: February 7, 2023
Published online: March 15, 2023
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background

Goto Kakizaki (GK) rats share common features with human type 2 diabetes (T2DM). Therefore, the results obtained from analyses of the gut microbiota and metabolites of GK rats will be more similar to those of patients with T2DM.

Research motivation

The gut microbiota and metabolites are critical in T2DM. Therefore, alterations in different gut microbiota and metabolites may provide useful evidence for analysing the pathogenesis and treatment of T2DM.

Research objectives

To investigate the alterations in gut microbiota and metabolites in the faeces of T2DM rats.

Research methods

Systematic characterization of the faecal gut microbes and metabolites of GK rats using metagenomic and untargeted metabolomic approaches and analysis of the relationship between gut microbes and metabolites under conditions of glucose and insulin resistance.

Research results

The GK rats displayed significant differences in the gut microbiota structure compared with the control group. The results demonstrated that the GK rats presented significantly decreased abundances of Prevotella sp. CAG:604 and Lactobacillus murinus (P < 0.05) and a significantly higher abundance of Allobaculum stercoricanis (P < 0.01). Orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis suggested that the faecal metabolic profiles differed between the GK and control groups. Fourteen potential metabolic biomarkers, including glycochenodeoxycholic acid, uric acid, 13(S)-hydroxyoctadecadienoic acid, N-acetylaspartate, β-sitostenone, sphinganine, 4-pyridoxic acid, and linoleic acid, were identified. The metabolic pathways showing the main differences were arginine biosynthesis; primary bile acid biosynthesis; purine metabolism; linoleic acid metabolism; alanine, aspartate and glutamate metabolism; and nitrogen metabolism.

Research conclusions

The present study revealed that disordered compositions of gut microbes and metabolites are putative common defects observed in GK rats by metagenomics and untargeted metabolomics.

Research perspectives

Gut microbes and metabolites play a key role in carbohydrate metabolic pathways. Therefore, an evaluation of the involvement of dynamic changes in gut microbes and metabolites may be important in the future.