Regulators of Gut Motility Revealed by a Gnotobiotic Model of Diet-Microbiome Interactions Related to Travel

• Published in: Cell 2015-09, Vol.163 (1), p.95-107
• Main Authors: Dey, Neelendu, Wagner, Vitas E., Blanton, Laura V., Cheng, Jiye, Fontana, Luigi, Haque, Rashidul, Ahmed, Tahmeed, Gordon, Jeffrey I.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: animal models; Animals; Bangladesh; bile; Bile Acids and Salts - metabolism; choloylglycine hydrolase; Curcuma - metabolism; Diet; Gastrointestinal Motility; Gastrointestinal Tract - microbiology; Gastrointestinal Tract - physiology; germ-free animals; Humans; ingredients; intestinal microorganisms; Male; Mice; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Microbiota; Models, Animal; nervous system; physiology; Specific Pathogen-Free Organisms; traditions; Travel; turmeric
• ISSN: 0092-8674; 1097-4172
• DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2015.08.059

To understand how different diets, the consumers’ gut microbiota, and the enteric nervous system (ENS) interact to regulate gut motility, we developed a gnotobiotic mouse model that mimics short-term dietary changes that happen when humans are traveling to places with different culinary traditions. Studying animals transplanted with the microbiota from humans representing diverse culinary traditions and fed a sequence of diets representing those of all donors, we found that correlations between bacterial species abundances and transit times are diet dependent. However, the levels of unconjugated bile acids—generated by bacterial bile salt hydrolases (BSH)—correlated with faster transit, including during consumption of a Bangladeshi diet. Mice harboring a consortium of sequenced cultured bacterial strains from the Bangladeshi donor’s microbiota and fed a Bangladeshi diet revealed that the commonly used cholekinetic spice, turmeric, affects gut motility through a mechanism that reflects bacterial BSH activity and Ret signaling in the ENS. These results demonstrate how a single food ingredient interacts with a functional microbiota trait to regulate host physiology. [Display omitted] •Gut motility is affected by different human gut microbiota-diet combinations•Turmeric slows motility in gnotobiotic mice with a Bangladeshi microbiota/diet•Turmeric’s effect involves bile acid secretion/deconjugation and Ret signaling•Gnotobiotic mice can define key interactions between traditional foods and microbiota A mouse model of short-term dietary changes, which happen when humans are traveling to places with different culinary traditions, reveals how a single food ingredient interacts with a functional microbiota trait to regulate host physiology.