Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids On Intestinal Flora And Fat Metabolism Genes

Objective To determine the effect of PUFA diet on gut microbiota and obesity-related cell factors in rat.Methods A total of5weeks old30healthy female rats were randomly divided into three groups: control group, n-6PUFA-containing diet group and n-3PUFA-containing diet group and free feeding and water for eight weeks. Blood serum, body weight, length and food intake were recorded per day during the trail period. Body weight, epididymal fat pad weight, changes of number of bacteria, thickness of Mucus Layer, and relative expression of obesity-related cell factors were assessed. The levels of Bifidobacterium (Bif), Lactobacillus (Lac), Akkermansia muciniphila (Akk), Clostridrium difficile (Clo), Staphylococcus aureus (Sta), Ecoli (Eco) and obesity-related cell factors FAS, adiponectin, nesfatin-1and ghrelin were assessed by qRT-PCR method and the protein level of nesfatin-1was assessed by western blot at the end of the trial.Results The body weight and epididymal fat pad weight of n-3PUFA group were lower than control group, and higher in n-6group. The food intake was also lower in n-3and higher in n-6compared with control group. Mucus layer thickness of n-3group was significantly higher than control group (P<0.05). Q-PCR analysis revealed group differences in the Bifidobacterium, Lactobacillus, and Akkermansia muciniphila numbers of which were significantly higher (P=0.0077, P=0.0322and P=0.0434, respectively) in n-3group than in control group, whereas Clostridrium difficile and Staphylococcus aureus numbers were lower (P=0.001, P=0.0033). The level of Eco was not significant difference in three groups (P>0.05). The mRNA level of FAS and nesfatin-1and the protein level of nesfatin-1were lower than others in n-3group, whereas the level of adiponectin and ghrelin were significantly higher than that in the control group (P<0.05). In n-6group, the expression of nesfatin-1was higher than control group (P=0.0124). Other indicators were no significant differences in the n-6group.Conclusion The results provide a useful resource for future studies on the role of PUFA-modulated the composition of gut bacteria which provides a novel way for understanding that n-3PUFA can regulate the function of intestinal barrier, and control weight.