Dietary non-fermentable fiber prevents autoimmune neurological disease by changing gut metabolic and immune status

Kerstin Berer,Philippe Schmitt-Kopplin,Gurumoorthy Krishnamoorthy,Jens Walter,Birgit Kunkel,Alesia Walker,Inés Martínez

doi:10.1038/s41598-018-28839-3

Abstract

The autoimmune neurological disease, Multiple Sclerosis (MS), have increased at alarming rates in the Western society over the last few decades. While there are numerous efforts to develop novel treatment approaches, there is an unmet need to identify preventive strategies. We explored whether central nervous system (CNS) autoimmunity can be prevented through dietary manipulation using a spontaneous autoimmune encephalomyelitis mouse model. We report that the nutritional supplementation of non-fermentable fiber, common components of a vegetarian diet, in early adult life, prevents autoimmune disease. Dietary non-fermentable fiber alters the composition of the gut microbiota and metabolic profile with an increase in the abundance of long-chain fatty acids. Immune assays revealed that cecal extracts and a long chain fatty acid but not cecal lysates promoted autoimmune suppressive TH2 immune responses, demonstrating that non-fermentable fiber-induced metabolic changes account for the beneficial effects. Overall, these findings identify a non-invasive dietary strategy to prevent CNS autoimmunity and warrants a focus on nutritional approaches in human MS.

Highlights

The dietary habits of humans have changed dramatically in the last few decades, notably in industrialized western countries and in urban societies
We sought to address the influence of non-fermentable dietary fiber on central nervous system (CNS)-specific autoimmune disease using a spontaneous experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) mouse model, opticospinal encephalomyelitis (OSE) mice[16]
The opposite diet-switch experiment, OSE litters raised on CR diet but weaned onto control diet, developed spontaneous EAE (sEAE) with comparable disease incidence and severity to mice reared on control diet

Summary

Introduction

The dietary habits of humans have changed dramatically in the last few decades, notably in industrialized western countries and in urban societies. For the first time, that non-fermentable dietary fiber consumption protects mice from developing spontaneous CNS-directed autoimmunity. This protective effect can be reversed by switching diet to a low fiber diet during early adult life. The disease protection went along with robust changes in microbiota composition, metabolic profile and induction of TH2 immune responses within and outside the intestine Together, these finding establish that dietary non-fermentable fiber as a modulator of gut microbial profile and offer a simple way to prevent CNS autoimmunity that warrants nutritional studies in human MS

Methods

Results

Conclusion