Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Changes in dog poop bile acids linked to insulin-dependent diabetes
By Jergens, Albert E et al.·Published in Frontiers in veterinary science·2019·Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences, United States·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Microbiota-Related Changes in Unconjugated Fecal Bile Acids Are Associated With Naturally Occurring, Insulin-Dependent Diabetes Mellitus in Dogs.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A group of dogs with diabetes mellitus (DM) showed changes in their gut bacteria and bile acids compared to healthy dogs. The study found that dogs with DM had higher levels of certain bile acids in their feces, which could affect their blood sugar control. While the overall diversity of gut bacteria didn't differ significantly between the two groups, specific types of bacteria were more common in the healthy dogs. These findings suggest that dogs with DM experience changes in their gut health that may be similar to those seen in humans with diabetes. Understanding these changes could help improve treatment options for diabetic dogs.
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Abstract
Diabetes mellitus (DM) in humans has recently been associated with altered intestinal microbiota. The consequences of intestinal dysbiosis, such as increased intestinal permeability and altered microbial metabolites, are suspected to contribute to the host inflammatory state and peripheral insulin resistance. Human diabetics have been shown to have changes in bile acid (BA) metabolism which may be detrimental to glycemic control. The purpose of this study was to examine BA metabolism in dogs with naturally-occurring, insulin-dependent DM and to relate these findings to changes in the intestinal microbiota. A prospective observational study of adult dogs with a clinical diagnosis of DM (= 10) and healthy controls (HC,= 10) was performed. The fecal microbiota were analyzed by 16S rRNA gene next-generation (Illumina) sequencing. Concentrations of fecal unconjugated BA (fUBA) were measured using gas chromatography and mass spectrometry. Analysis of bacterial communities showed no significant difference for any of the alpha-diversity measures between DM vs. HC dogs. Principal coordinate analysis based on unweighted Unifrac distance metric failed to show significant clustering between dog groups (ANOSIM:= 0.084;= 0.114). However, linear discriminate analysis effects size (LEfSe) detected differentially abundant bacterial taxa (α = 0.01, LDA score >2.0) on various phylogenetic levels. Whilewas overrepresented in dogs with DM, the proportions of Erysipelotrichia,, andwere increased in HC dogs. Dogs with DM had increased concentration of total primary fUBA compared to HC dogs (= 0.028). The concentrations of cholic acid and the cholic acid percentage of the total fUBA were increased (= 0.028 and= 0.035, respectively) in the feces of DM dogs relative to HC dogs. The levels of lithocholic acid (both absolute value and percentage of the total fUBA) were decreased (= 0.043 and< 0.01, respectively) in DM dogs vs. HC dogs. Results indicate that dogs with DM have both intestinal dysbiosis and associated fUBA alterations. The pattern of dysbiosis and altered BA composition is similar to that seen in humans with Type 2 DM. The dog represents a novel large animal model for advancing translational medicine research efforts (e.g., investigating pathogenesis and therapeutics) in DM affecting humans.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31316997/