Abstract P204: Diet Significantly Influences Adipose Tissue Weight and Adipokine Expression in Response to Probiotic Administration in Male Mice

Abstract

Diet plays a major role in regulating many factors related to overall health. As obesity numbers in America continue to climb, it is becoming increasingly important to understand the mechanisms of how nutrition contributes to our total level of well-being. Similarly, the makeup of our intestine’s microbiome is linked to nutrient metabolism and the function it plays in both digestive and systemic processes. Taken together, our study aims to demonstrate the influence of probiotic supplements in the context of different diets on the expression of the adipokines leptin and adiponectin. Weanling male C57Bl/6 mice were purchased and acclimated to a solid diet and group housing for one week. Mice were then assigned to receive one of three diets ad libitum : a control “chow” group (standard vegetable base), the synthetic American Institute of Nutrition 93 formulation (AIN), and our novel “Americanized Diet” which is similar to the proportion of nutrients consumed in Western societies and were fed for eight weeks. Mice within each diet group received either a commercial probiotic (30 uL) or saline control five days a week for two weeks. Afterwards, the mice were then euthanized, adipose tissue was collected, and tissues processed for the quantification of leptin and adiponectin by real-time RT-PCR. Diet significantly influenced adipose tissue weight (P=0.02), with mice fed the AD having the greatest degree of adiposity. Interestingly, there was a significant diet*probiotic interaction (P=0.003), where probiotic administration caused an increase in adipose tissue weight in mice fed the AIN, but a decrease in mice fed the AD. Diet also significantly influenced adipose adiponectin expression (P<0.001), with mice fed the AD having the lowest expression as compared to mice fed chow and AIN. There was also a significant (P=0.002) diet*treatment interaction, where probiotic administration increased adipose adiponectin expression in mice fed AD to levels similar to the other diets at baseline. There was also a tendency for diet*treatment to influence adipose leptin expression (P=0.054), where probiotic administration increased leptin in mice fed chow, but decreased in mice fed the AD. Taken together, our data suggest that diet and probiotic administration significantly influence the structure-function relationship of adipose tissue. The results of this study underline the significance of maintaining a healthy gut microbiome in today’s culture and the impact that the gut microbiome has on our overall health.