Surgical Removal of Gut Bacteria Biomass Promotes Weight Gain via Suppression of Energy Expenditure

Nicole A. Pearson, Ruth A. Riedl, Samantha N. Atkinson, Tomye L. Ollinger, Colin M. L. Burnett, Robert A. Edwards, Mohamad Mokadem, John R. Kirby, Justin L. Grobe

Research output: Contribution to journalMeeting Abstract

Abstract

A role for gut microbiota in energy homeostasis has been supported by studies involving twins, fecal transplants, colonization of germ-free animals, and antimicrobial treatments. Although these studies have documented qualitative changes in digestive efficiency and microbiota-host communication, there have been few attempts to quantitatively assess the relative contributions of these processes. Therefore it remains unclear whether other energy balance mechanisms may also contribute to the observed effects of the gut microbiota upon host energetics. It has been estimated that bacteria contribute 1–3% of adult human body mass, and that bacteria metabolize energy at ~7 kcal/kg/hr; thus bacteria in a 90 kg man should utilize 150–450 kcal/d, which is the equivalent of 7–22% of a 2,000 kcal/d human energy flux. We therefore hypothesize that gut bacteria contribute a physiologically-relevant fraction of the host's total energy expenditure, and that removal of bacterial biomass would lead to increased weight gain despite simultaneously reducing digestive efficiency. To test this hypothesis we surgically removed the cecum (which is filled with bacteria and accounts for ~1% of body mass in mice) from 13 week old female C57BL/6J mice, and serially assessed host energetics by bomb calorimetry for two months.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)890.1-890.1
Number of pages1
JournalFASEB Journal
Volume31
Issue numberS1
Publication statusPublished - Apr 2017
Externally publishedYes
EventExperimental Biology 2017 -
Duration: 1 Apr 201730 Apr 2017

Bibliographical note

Annual Meeting of the American-Society-for-Pharmacology-and-Experimental-Therapeutics (ASPET) at Experimental Biology Meeting, Chicago, IL, APR 22-26, 2017

Keywords

  • Gut Bacteria Biomass

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