Department of Clinical Studies, Ontario Veterinary College, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, N1G 2W1, Canada.
Present address: Royal Canin Canada, 100 Beiber Rd, N0B 2J0, Puslinch, Canada.
BMC Vet Res. 2020 Apr 15;16(1):112. doi: 10.1186/s12917-020-02318-2.
Research in humans and mice suggests that obesity influences the abundance and diversity of gastrointestinal (GI) microbiota, and that an "obese microbiome" influences energy metabolism and fat storage in the host. Microbiota membership and composition have been previously assessed in healthy cats. However, research investigating the effects of obesity and weight loss on the cat's fecal microbiota is limited. Therefore, this study's objective was to evaluate differences in fecal microbial abundance and biodiversity, as well as serum cobalamin and folate concentrations in obese cats, before and after weight loss, and compare to lean cats. Fourteen lean and 17 obese healthy client-owned cats were fed a veterinary therapeutic weight loss food at maintenance energy requirement for 4 weeks. At the end of week 4, lean cats finished the study, whereas obese cats continued with a 10-week weight loss period on the same food, fed at individually-tailored weight loss energy requirements. Body weight and body condition score were recorded every 2 weeks throughout the study. At the end of each period, a fecal sample and food-consumption records were obtained from the owners, and serum cobalamin and folate concentrations were analysed. DNA was extracted from fecal samples, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was performed, and products were sequenced using next-generation sequencing (Illumina MiSeq).
No significant differences in the relative abundance of taxa and in biodiversity indices were observed between cats in either group (P > 0.05 for all tests). Nevertheless, some significantly enriched taxa, mainly belonging to Firmicutes, were noted in linear discriminant analysis effect size test in obese cats before weight loss compared to lean cats. Serum cobalamin concentrations were significantly higher in lean compared to obese cats both before and after weight loss. Serum folate concentrations were higher in obese cats before weight loss compared to after.
The association between feline obesity and the fecal bacterial microbiota was demonstrated in enriched taxa in obese cats compared to lean cats, which may be related to enhanced efficiency of energy-harvesting. However, in obese cats, the fecal microbial abundance and biodiversity were only minimally affected during the early phase of a standardized weight loss plan.
人体和小鼠研究表明，肥胖会影响胃肠道（GI）微生物群的丰度和多样性，而“肥胖微生物组”会影响宿主的能量代谢和脂肪储存。此前已经评估过健康猫的微生物群成员和组成。然而，关于肥胖和减肥对猫粪便微生物群影响的研究有限。因此，本研究的目的是评估肥胖猫在减肥前后粪便微生物丰度和多样性的差异，以及血清钴胺素和叶酸浓度，并与瘦猫进行比较。14 只瘦猫和 17 只肥胖健康的客户猫按照维持能量需求喂养兽医治疗性减肥食品 4 周。第 4 周末，瘦猫完成了研究，而肥胖猫则继续在相同的食物上进行 10 周的减肥期，按照个体定制的减肥能量需求喂养。在整个研究过程中，每两周记录一次体重和体况评分。在每个阶段结束时，从主人那里获得粪便样本和食物消耗记录，并分析血清钴胺素和叶酸浓度。从粪便样本中提取 DNA，进行聚合酶链反应（PCR），并使用下一代测序（Illumina MiSeq）对产物进行测序。
在两组猫中，未观察到相对丰度和生物多样性指数在分类群之间有显著差异（所有测试 P > 0.05）。然而，在减肥前的肥胖猫中，通过线性判别分析效应大小测试发现了一些显著富集的分类群，主要属于厚壁菌门。与减肥后的肥胖猫相比，减肥前的瘦猫血清钴胺素浓度显著更高。与减肥后相比，减肥前的肥胖猫血清叶酸浓度更高。
与瘦猫相比，肥胖猫粪便细菌微生物群与肥胖之间存在关联，这可能与能量获取效率的提高有关。然而，在肥胖猫中，在标准化减肥计划的早期阶段，粪便微生物丰度和多样性仅受到最小程度的影响。
