Abstract
Type 2 diabetes is a common metabolic disorder related to insulin resistance, or deficiency of insulin secretion, caused by decreased insulin sensitivity and destruction of islet structure and function. As the second human genome, the microbiota has been observed to have a growing relationship with diabetes in recent years. Microbiota imbalance has been hypothesized to be involved in the regulation of energy metabolism and the inflammatory immune response in diabetes. The present study aimed to investigate whether fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) could alleviate the symptoms associated with type 2 diabetes. To this end, a type 2 diabetes mouse model was first established through the consumption of a high-fat diet combined with streptozotocin (100 mg/kg), and FMT was used to rebuild the gut microbiota of diabetic mice. Fasting blood glucose, oral glucose tolerance tests, and HbA1c levels were monitored, while the hypoglycemic effects of FMT were also observed. Insulin levels were tested by ELISA and related indexes such as HOMA-IR, HOMA-IS, and HOMA-β were calculated. We found that insulin resistance and pancreatic islet β-cells were improved after FMT treatment. Meanwhile, the markers of inflammation in the pancreatic tissue were detected by ELISA and immunohistochemistry, which indicated that inflammatory response decreased following FMT treatment. Furthermore, flow cytometry and western blot results revealed that FMT inhibited the β-cell apoptosis. Here, the effect of FMT on hypoglycemia in type 2 diabetes was addressed by improving insulin resistance and repairing impaired islets, thereby providing a potential treatment strategy for type 2 diabetes.
Highlights
Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is the most common endocrine and metabolic disease, which is characterized by high blood glucose, insulin resistance, and a relative deficiency of insulin
Our results showed that rebuilding gut microbiota could be decreased fasting blood glucose (FBG) levels and improves insulin resistance in T2DM mice by relieving islets destruction
We first characterized the changes in microbiota that occurred after fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) using 16S sequencing
Summary
Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is the most common endocrine and metabolic disease, which is characterized by high blood glucose, insulin resistance, and a relative deficiency of insulin. When the ratio of beneficial bacteria to harmful bacteria is disturbed, the balance of microbiota is broken, and metabolic disorders occur in the human body, leading to other related diseases. Owing to in-depth research on intestinal function, the role of microbiota in the progression of type 2 diabetes is becoming increasingly clear and acknowledged (Kang et al, 2018). Studies have shown that intestinal microflora is significantly different between patients with type 2 diabetes and healthy individuals (Savilahti et al, 2018). Due to the complexity of the intestinal microflora, its structure and function have not yet been fully understood yet, and its specific role in T2DM has not been completely elucidated
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