AUTHOR=Frias Hugo , Murga Valderrama Nilton Luis , Flores Durand Gary J. , Cornejo Victor G. , Romani Ana C. , Bardales William , Segura G. T. , Polveiro Richard C. , Vieira Dielson da S. , Ramos Sanchez Eduardo M. , Lopez Lapa Rainer M. , Maicelo Quintana Jorge Luis TITLE=Comparative analysis of fasting effects on the cecum microbiome in three guinea pig breeds: Andina, Inti, and Peru JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology VOLUME=14 YEAR=2023 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2023.1283738 DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2023.1283738 ISSN=1664-302X ABSTRACT=
Guinea pigs have historically been used as a food source and are also an important model for studying the human intestines. Fasting is the act of temporarily stopping the intake of food. This process can alter the microbiota of various animals. This study is the first to investigate the impact of fasting on the cecum microbiome of three guinea pig breeds. We investigated the impact of fasting on the microbiome population structure in the cecum of three guinea pig breeds. This was done by sequencing and analyzing the V4 hypervariable region of the 16S rRNA gene in bacterial communities found in cecum mucosa samples. To achieve this, we established two treatment groups (fasting and fed), for each of the three guinea pig breeds: Andina, Inti, and Peru. The study involved twenty-eight guinea pigs, which were divided into the following groups: Andina-fed (five), Andina-fasting (five), Inti-fed (four), Inti-fasting (five), Peru-fed (five), and Peru-fasting (four). The results indicated a significant difference in beta diversity between the treatment groups for the Peru breed (