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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Microorganisms in Vertebrate Digestive Systems
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2024.1514633
This article is part of the Research Topic Insights into the Gut Microbiota in Companion Animals View all 9 articles

Deciphering of differences in gut microbiota and plasma metabolites profile between non-obese and obese Golden Retrievers dogs

Provisionally accepted
Yazhen Cai Yazhen Cai Huayu Tang Huayu Tang Guilin Xiang Guilin Xiang Hongyu Yi Hongyu Yi Jie Zhong Jie Zhong Zhaoxi Xie Zhaoxi Xie Qinfeng Hu Qinfeng Hu Romaissaa El Bouhi Romaissaa El Bouhi Pan Zhou Pan Zhou Yong Zhang Yong Zhang Honglin Yan Honglin Yan *
  • Southwest University of Science and Technology, Mianyang, Sichuan Province, China

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

    Golden Retrievers have a high risk of obesity, which is prevalent in dogs and is associated with inflammation and cancer, impairing the health and life expectancy of companion animals. Microbial and metabolite biomarkers have been proposed for identifying the presence of obesity in humans and rodents. However, the effects of obesity on the microbiome and metabolome of Golden Retrievers remains unknown. Therefore, this study was designed to evaluate the signatures of serum biochemistry indexes, gut microbiota and plasma metabolites in non-obese and obese Golden Retrievers, aiming to recognize potential biomarkers of canine obesity. A total of 8 non-obese (Ctrl group) and 8 obese (Obe group) Golden Retrievers were included in the present study to collect blood and feces samples for measurements. The fecal microbiome and plasma metabolome were determined using 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry, respectively. Results showed that the alanine aminotransferase activity and total bilirubin concentration, which have been measured using serum biochemistry analysis, were higher in the Obe group than in the Ctrl group (P < 0.05). Moreover, there was a significant difference in gut microbiota composition between the two groups (P < 0.05). The phyla Proteobacteria, Fusobacteriota, and Bacteroidota as well as genera Fusobacterium, Prevotella, Faecalibacterium, Escherichia-Shigell, and Alloprevotella were more abundant, while phylum Firmicutes and genera Peptoclostridium, Blautia, Turicibacter, Allobaculum, and Erysipelatoclostridium were less abundant in the Obe group compared to the Ctrl group (P < 0.05). Plasma concentrations of citrulline and 11-dehydrocorticosterone were significantly higher in the Obe group than those in the Ctrl group (P < 0.05). Close correlations between serum biochemistry parameters, gut microbiome, and plasma metabolites were observed in the current study. The obesityinduced shifts in serum biochemistry indexes, gut microbiota, and plasma metabolites profiles suggest that obese Golden Retrievers exhibit a different microbiome and metabolome than non-obese ones, and the certain metabolites like citrulline and 11-dehydrocorticosterone could be considered as potential biomarkers to recognize obese Golden Retrievers.

    Keywords: Obesity, Golden retriever, serum biochemistry indexes, Plasma Metabolome, microbiota

    Received: 23 Oct 2024; Accepted: 23 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Cai, Tang, Xiang, Yi, Zhong, Xie, Hu, Bouhi, Zhou, Zhang and Yan. 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: Honglin Yan, Southwest University of Science and Technology, Mianyang, 621010, Sichuan Province, China

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