The effect of estradiol and high fat diet on the female mouse gut microbiota

Post-menopausal women have an increased risk of developing metabolic disorders, such as obesity and type two diabetes. Estradiol, a female sex hormone, which declines in menopausal and postmenopausal women, protects against diet-induced obesity in women and female mice. However, the mechanisms by which estradiol prevents diet-induced obesity are not well known. Diet has been shown to shape the gut microbiome, and both diet and the gut microbiome have been linked to weight gain and obesity. In this study, fecal samples were collected from female mice as they ate a standard diet and then switched to a high fat diet. All endogenous sources of estradiol were removed from the mice and half the mice were given estradiol. From bacterial DNA in the fecal samples, the V3-V4 region of the 16S rRNA gene was sequenced on the MiSeq Illumina platform.

绝经后女性罹患代谢紊乱（metabolic disorders）的风险显著升高，此类紊乱包括肥胖与2型糖尿病。雌二醇（Estradiol）作为一种雌性性激素，在绝经前及绝经后女性体内的水平会出现下降，其可在女性与雌性小鼠中抵御饮食诱导性肥胖（diet-induced obesity）。然而，雌二醇抵御饮食诱导性肥胖的具体机制目前尚未完全阐明。研究表明，饮食可塑造肠道微生物组（gut microbiome），而饮食与肠道微生物组均与体重增加及肥胖密切相关。本研究中，研究人员收集了雌性小鼠在饲喂标准饲料及更换为高脂饲料后的粪便样本。所有小鼠均被去除内源性雌二醇来源，其中半数小鼠接受雌二醇给药处理。基于粪便样本中的细菌DNA，研究人员在Illumina MiSeq平台（MiSeq Illumina platform）上对16S rRNA基因（16S rRNA gene）的V3-V4可变区进行了测序。