The effect of aging and high fat diet on gut microbiota in aged F344 rats

This study was performed to investigate the effect of aging and high fat diet on gut microbiota in F344 rats by the pyrosequencing method. Overall design: Metagenome analysis was performed on microbiota from stools of 6-week old and 2-year old rats fed with chow or high fat diet. There were 8 groups: 6-week old male control (n = 6), 6-week old male high fat diet (n = 6), 6-week old female control (n = 6), 6-week old female high fat diet (n = 6), 2-year old male control (n = 4), 2-year old male high fat diet (n = 4), 2-year old female control (n = 5), and 2-year old female high fat diet (n = 5).