FRIDAY, March 29 (HealthDay News) -- Mice that undergo gastric bypass surgery have changes in their gut composition independent of weight loss, and transferring the gut microbiota to germ-free mice results in weight loss without sugery, according to a study published in the March 27 issue of Science Translational Medicine.
Alice P. Liou, Ph.D., D.V.M., from Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, and colleagues treated mice that had been made obese through a high-fat diet with Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery, sham surgery, or sham surgery plus caloric restriction.
The researchers found that gut microbiota significantly shifted only in the mice that had undergone gastric bypass surgery (toward a greater abundance of Gammaproteobacteria and Verrucomicrobia) and was independent of weight change and caloric restriction. Transferring gut microbiota from mice that had undergone gastric bypass surgery to germ-free mice resulted in weight loss and lower fat mass relative to transferring gut microbiota from mice that had undergone sham surgery.
"These findings provide the first empirical support for the claim that changes in the gut microbiota contribute to reduced host weight and adiposity after Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery," the authors write.
One author disclosed financial ties to Ethicon Surgical Care. Three authors are inventors on a patent related to this work.
Abstract
Full Text (subscription or payment may be required)
