The microbiome plays an indispensable role in our health. Pathophysiological alteration in the gut microbiota has been linked with the development and maintenance of non-communicable diseases, such as obesity, cancer, type 2 diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular diseases, and metabolic syndrome.
Dietary habits have a strong influence on the selection of gut microbiota. Diet has a primary role over other factors such as age, gender, geography, and environment, in shaping the human gut microbiota. Nutrients from the traditional foods used in different countries and culture directly interact with human gut microorganisms to promote or inhibit their growth, and subsequently play a major role in overall health. There has been also increasing evidence that microorganisms with claimed probiotic properties can exert benefits for human health in different age groups by modulating action on host metabolism, physiology, nutrition, and immune functions.
In order to better investigation the interaction between diet and microbiota, and given the practical and ethical complexity of performing invasive sampling procedures in human subjects, high inter-individual variation in the diets and in the gut microbiomes of humans, and relative ease of using animals with controlled diets for large-scale mechanistic and genotypic research studies, different types of animals models including rodents (mice, rats, guinea pigs, and hamsters), rabbits, pigs, zebra fish, and non-human primates (NHPs; e.g., macaques and vervet monkeys) have been developed and are frequently used to investigate the multiple dynamics of host–microbiome interactions. Among these, rodents – specifically mice and rats – remain the most-widely used models for studying the dynamics of host–gut microbiome interaction in host nutrition and disease development and are convenient models for exploring avenues for developing novel microbial therapies. To characterize human gut microbiota, murine models have been hence widely used, due to the extensive similarities in anatomy, physiology, and genetics. Rodents represent the most used model for studying the impact of microbiota on its host: particularly mouse and rats models that are the most widely used animal models for exploring the roles of human gut microbiota and are often used as model organisms for these studies.
This Research Topic welcomes Original Research, Reviews, Mini-reviews and Perspective articles related to studies performed in mouse/rat models, and addressing, but not limited to, the following sub-topics:
- The influence of dietary habits in the selection of gut microbiota
- The interaction between diets and gut microbiota, along with the health consequences
- The impact of a high-fat/sugar diet in the intestinal microbiota composition
- The use of probiotic microorganisms as coadjuvants in the treatment or prevention of non-communicable diseases, like obesity and diabetes.
- The impact of specific food and beverages on the corresponding alterations in the gut microbiota.
The microbiome plays an indispensable role in our health. Pathophysiological alteration in the gut microbiota has been linked with the development and maintenance of non-communicable diseases, such as obesity, cancer, type 2 diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular diseases, and metabolic syndrome.
Dietary habits have a strong influence on the selection of gut microbiota. Diet has a primary role over other factors such as age, gender, geography, and environment, in shaping the human gut microbiota. Nutrients from the traditional foods used in different countries and culture directly interact with human gut microorganisms to promote or inhibit their growth, and subsequently play a major role in overall health. There has been also increasing evidence that microorganisms with claimed probiotic properties can exert benefits for human health in different age groups by modulating action on host metabolism, physiology, nutrition, and immune functions.
In order to better investigation the interaction between diet and microbiota, and given the practical and ethical complexity of performing invasive sampling procedures in human subjects, high inter-individual variation in the diets and in the gut microbiomes of humans, and relative ease of using animals with controlled diets for large-scale mechanistic and genotypic research studies, different types of animals models including rodents (mice, rats, guinea pigs, and hamsters), rabbits, pigs, zebra fish, and non-human primates (NHPs; e.g., macaques and vervet monkeys) have been developed and are frequently used to investigate the multiple dynamics of host–microbiome interactions. Among these, rodents – specifically mice and rats – remain the most-widely used models for studying the dynamics of host–gut microbiome interaction in host nutrition and disease development and are convenient models for exploring avenues for developing novel microbial therapies. To characterize human gut microbiota, murine models have been hence widely used, due to the extensive similarities in anatomy, physiology, and genetics. Rodents represent the most used model for studying the impact of microbiota on its host: particularly mouse and rats models that are the most widely used animal models for exploring the roles of human gut microbiota and are often used as model organisms for these studies.
This Research Topic welcomes Original Research, Reviews, Mini-reviews and Perspective articles related to studies performed in mouse/rat models, and addressing, but not limited to, the following sub-topics:
- The influence of dietary habits in the selection of gut microbiota
- The interaction between diets and gut microbiota, along with the health consequences
- The impact of a high-fat/sugar diet in the intestinal microbiota composition
- The use of probiotic microorganisms as coadjuvants in the treatment or prevention of non-communicable diseases, like obesity and diabetes.
- The impact of specific food and beverages on the corresponding alterations in the gut microbiota.