Presenters: Sydney Larsen
Authors: Sydney Larsen, Satheesh Babu Adhini Kuppuswamy, Chrissa Petersen, Umesh Wankhade, Anandh Babu Pon Velayutham
Faculty Advisor: Anandh Velayutham
Institution: University of Utah
The gut microbiota plays a pivotal role in diabetes and modifying gut microbial ecosystem may be one of strategy to improve complications associated with diabetes. Blueberries contain flavonoid compounds, such as anthocyanins that are beneficial to an individual’s health. Evidence from our lab and others showed that blueberry supplementation for > 8 weeks can modify the composition of the gut microbiome. In this study, we investigated whether a short-term (4 week) supplementation of dietary blueberries is sufficient to improve gut dysbiosis in diabetic mice. Seven-weeks-old diabetic db/db mice consumed standard diet (db/db) or diet supplemented with 2.46% freeze-dried wild blueberry (db/db+BB) for 4 weeks. Age matched db/+ mice consumed standard diet served as control (db/+). The blueberry dosage used in this study is equivalent to 1 cup of blueberries (~160 g) for humans. Mice were sacrificed after 4 weeks and cecum contents were used to extract genomic DNA for microbial profiling by the amplification of V4 variable region of the 16S rRNA gene. Data analyses were performed using standardized pipelines such as QIIME and R packages. db/db mice exhibited an alteration in the gut microbes at the phyla and genus level as compared to db/+ mice. Blueberry supplementation improved the dysbiosis in db/db+BB vs db/db mice. Importantly, the abundance of commensal microbes such as Bifidobacterium and Allobaculum decreased whereas opportunistic microbe Clostridiumincreased in db/db vs db/+ mice. However, dietary blueberries increased the abundance of Bifidobacterium and Allobaculum,and decreased the abundance of Clostridiumin db/db+BB vs db/db mice. Our study indicates short-term supplementation of dietary blueberries is sufficient to improve gut dysbiosis in diabetic mice. Our study provides a strong proof of concept for considering blueberry as an adjunct therapy to improve gut dysbiosis and complications associated with diabetes.