Cecal microbiota of mice fed low or high fat, high sucrose diets supplemented with and without tart cherry -Targeted loci (16S). Mus musculus

The effect of tart cherry consumption on gut microbiota and metabolic function in low and high fat fed mice was assessed. Six-week old, male C57BL6N mice were obtained from Charles Rivers Laboratory. After two-week acclimation, mice were randomly assigned to one of six dietary treatment groups (n=6 mice/group): Control (C, 10% fat, 10% sucrose, AIN-93M purified diet), C + 5% Tart Cherry (C+5%TC), C + 10% Tart Cherry (C+10%TC), High Fat High Sucrose (HFS, 45% fat, 20% sucrose), HFS + 5% TC (HFS+5%TC), and HFS + 10% TC (HFS+10%TC) for 90 days. Food and deionized water were provided ad libitum. Food intake was recorded daily while body weight was monitored weekly. At the end of the study (90 days), mice were fasted for 3 hours, anesthetized with ketamine/xylazine cocktail, and cecal contents were collected for bacterial community profiling.