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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Endocrinol.
Sec. Developmental Endocrinology
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fendo.2024.1425235
This article is part of the Research Topic Pre-natal and Post-natal Environmental Impacts on Metabolic Control View all 4 articles

The protective effect of the intestinal microbiota in type-1 diabetes in NOD mice is limited to a time window in early life

Provisionally accepted
Nerea Fernandez Trigo Nerea Fernandez Trigo 1,2Cristina Kalbermatter Cristina Kalbermatter 1,2Bahtiyar Yilmaz Bahtiyar Yilmaz 1,2Stephanie C. Ganal-Vonarburg Stephanie C. Ganal-Vonarburg 1,2*
  • 1 Department for Visceral Surgery and Medicine, Bern University Hospital, Bern, Bern, Switzerland
  • 2 Department for BioMedical Research, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    The incidence of type-1 diabetes (T1D) is on the rise, particularly in developed nations, and predominantly affects the youth. While genetic predisposition plays a substantial role, environmental factors, including alterations in the gut microbiota, are increasingly recognized as significant contributors to the disease. In this study, we utilized germ-free non-obese diabetic (NOD) mice to explore the effects of microbiota colonization during early life on T1D susceptibility. Our findings reveal that microbiota introduction at birth, rather than at weaning, significantly reduces the risk of T1D, indicating a crucial window for microbiota-mediated modulation of immune responses. This protective effect was independent of alterations in intestinal barrier function but correlated with testosterone levels in male mice. Additionally, early life colonization modulated T cell subset frequencies, particularly T helper cells and regulatory T cells, in the intestine, potentially shaping T1D predisposition. Our findings underscore the pivotal role of early-life microbial interactions in immune regulation and the development of autoimmune diseases.

    Keywords: type-1 diabetes, microbiota, window of opportunity, early life, Weaning, Autoimmunity, Regulatory T cells English (US), Highlight English (US)

    Received: 29 Apr 2024; Accepted: 05 Sep 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Fernandez Trigo, Kalbermatter, Yilmaz and Ganal-Vonarburg. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Stephanie C. Ganal-Vonarburg, Department for Visceral Surgery and Medicine, Bern University Hospital, Bern, 3010, Bern, Switzerland

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