Effect of Virgin Coconut Oil Supplementation on Obese Rats’ Anthropometrical Parameters and Gut Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes Change Ratio
Abstract
Previous clinical trials using virgin coconut oil (VCO) showed a potential anti-obesity effect, including for human, by reducing the waist circumference. However, there was not discovered any research that examined its anti-obesity effect in relation with gut microbiota parameters as one of current approaches of obesity parameters, for example Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes. This research was conducted to examine the effect of VCO supplementation on the change of Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes in comparison to the anthropometrical parameters. The experiment was done using 14 days obese-induced female Sprague-Dawley rats supplemented with 0.01% w/w and 0.02% w/w VCO for 28 days. The anthropometric data collection consisted of body weight (BW), body mass index (BMI), abdominal circumference (AC), and body length (BL). Ratio changes in –fold increase between Day 28 and Day 0 of Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes were retrieved by using relative quantification normalized against unit mass calculation, using the cycle threshold values from real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) method with SYBR Green fluorescence and standard curve derived from tenfold 5 points dilution series of recombinant plasmid for efficiency calculation. VCO supplementation stimulated significant increase on anthropometric parameters on BW and AC (p<0.05), while insignificant changes were shown on Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes ratio with tendency of increasing and decreasing respectfully, with no significance. The result indicated that VCO supplementation in the given doses promoted pro-obesity effect on key anthropometric parameters, while showed potential anti-obesity effect on the gut microbiota parameter. Further researches were needed especially in determining the effective dose to promote the anti-obesity effect of VCO and revealing any possible cellular and molecular mechanisms.
References
Bäckhed, F. et al. (2005) Host-bacterial mutualism in the human intestine. Science (New York, N.Y.). [Online] 307 (5717), 1915–1920.
Bio-Rad (2006) Real-Time Guide Applications Guide. [online]. Available from: http://www.bio-rad.com/webroot/web/ pdf/ lsr/literature/Bulletin_5279.pdf (Accessed 22 July 2015). [online]. Available from: http://www.bio-rad.com/webroot/web/pdf/ lsr/literature/Bulletin_5279.pdf (Accessed 22 July 2015).
Clement, S. (2014) Impact of Amorphophallus campanulatus supplementation on gut microbiota composition in DIO-Sprague Dawley Rat. Jakarta, Indonesia: Atma Jaya Catholic University of Indonesia.
David & Arkeman, H. (2008) Evaluation of the oral toxicity of formaldehyde in rats. 27 (3), 106–112.
Dorak, M. T. (2007) Real-Time PCR. Garland Science.
Everard, A. et al. (2011) Responses of gut microbiota and glucose and lipid metabolism to prebiotics in genetic obese and diet-induced leptin-resistant mice. Diabetes. [Online] 60 (11), 2775–2786.
Food and Drug Administration (2005) Guidance for Industry: Estimating the Maximum Safe Starting Dose in Initial Clinical Trials for Therapeutics in Adult Healthy Volunteers. [online]. Available from: http://www.fda.gov/downloads/Drugs/Guidances/UCM078932.pdf (Accessed 22 July 2015). [online]. Available from: http://www.fda.gov/downloads/Drugs/Guidances/UCM078932.pdf (Accessed 22 July 2015).
Guillot, E. et al. (1994) Intestinal absorption of medium chain fatty acids: in vivo studies in pigs devoid of exocrine pancreatic secretion. The British Journal of Nutrition. 72 (4), 545–553.
Guo, X. et al. (2008) Development of a real-time PCR method for Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes in faeces and its application to quantify intestinal population of obese and lean pigs. Letters in Applied Microbiology. [Online] 47 (5), 367–373.
Guturu, P. & Duchini, A. (2012) Etiopathogenesis of Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis: Role of Obesity, Insulin Resistance and Mechanisms of Hepatotoxicity. International Journal of Hepatology. [Online] 2012e212865.
Herrera, B. M. et al. (2011) Genetics and epigenetics of obesity. Maturitas. [Online] 69 (1), 41–49.
Jørgensen, J. R. et al. (2001) In vivo absorption of medium-chain fatty acids by the rat colon exceeds that of short-chain fatty acids. Gastroenterology. [Online] 120 (5), 1152–1161.
Kalliomäki, M. et al. (2008) Early differences in fecal microbiota composition in children may predict overweight. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 87 (3), 534–538.
Krieg, N. R. et al. (2011) Bergey’s Manual of Systematic Bacteriology: Volume 4: The Bacteroidetes, Spirochaetes, Tenericutes (Mollicutes), Acidobacteria, Fibrobacteres, Fusobacteria, Dictyoglomi, Gemmatimonadetes, Lentisphaerae, Verrucomicrobia, Chlamydiae, and Planctomycetes. Springer Science & Business Media.
Lekanne Deprez, R. H. et al. (2002) Sensitivity and accuracy of quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction using SYBR green I depends on cDNA synthesis conditions. Analytical Biochemistry. [Online] 307 (1), 63–69.
Ley, R. E. et al. (2006) Microbial ecology: human gut microbes associated with obesity. Nature. [Online] 444 (7122), 1022–1023.
Ley, R. E. (2010) Obesity and the human microbiome. Current Opinion in Gastroenterology. [Online] 26 (1), 5–11.
Liau, K. M. et al. (2011) An Open-Label Pilot Study to Assess the Efficacy and Safety of Virgin Coconut Oil in Reducing Visceral Adiposity. ISRN Pharmacology. [Online] 2011.
Mansor, T. S. T. et al. (2012) Physicochemical properties of virgin coconut oil extracted from different processing methods. International Food Research Journal. 19 (3), 837–845.
Mariat, D. et al. (2009) The Firmicutes/ Bacteroidetes ratio of the human microbiota changes with age. BMC Microbiology. [Online] 9 (1), 123.
Matsuki, T. et al. (2004) Use of 16S rRNA gene-targeted group-specific primers for real-time PCR analysis of predominant bacteria in human feces. Applied and Environmental Microbiology. [Online] 70 (12), 7220–7228.
Mu, H. & Høy, C. E. (2000) Effects of different medium-chain fatty acids on intestinal absorption of structured triacylglycerols. Lipids. 35 (1), 83–89.
National Human Genome Research Institute (2015) Metagenomics. Talking Glossary of Genetic Terms [online]. Available from: http://www.genome.gov/glossary/index.cfm?id=503 (Accessed 22 July 2015). [online]. Available from: http://www.genome.gov/glossary/index.cfm?id=503 (Accessed 22 July 2015).
Nevin, K. G. & Rajamohan, T. (2006) Virgin coconut oil supplemented diet increases the antioxidant status in rats. Food Chemistry. [Online] 99 (2), 260–266.
Nour, A. H. et al. (2009) Demulsification of virgin coconut oil by centrifugation method: a feasibility study. International Journal of Chemical Technology. [Online] 1 (2), 59–64.
Novelli, E. L. B. et al. (2007) Anthropometrical parameters and markers of obesity in rats. Laboratory Animals. [Online] 41 (1), 111–119.
Schwiertz, A. et al. (2010) Microbiota and SCFA in lean and overweight healthy subjects. Obesity (Silver Spring, Md.). [Online] 18 (1), 190–195.
Srivastava, Y. et al. (2013) Hypocholesterimic effects of cold and hot extracted virgin coconut oil (VCO) in comparison to commercial coconut oil: Evidence from a male wistar albino rat model. Food Science and Biotechnology. [Online] 22 (6), 1501–1508.
Thakur, A. K. et al. (2014) Gut-Microbiota and Mental Health: Current and Future Perspectives. J Pharmacol Clin Toxicol. 21016.
Tlaskalová-Hogenová, H. et al. (2011) The role of gut microbiota (commensal bacteria) and the mucosal barrier in the pathogenesis of inflammatory and autoimmune diseases and cancer: contribution of germ-free and gnotobiotic animal models of human diseases. Cellular & Molecular Immunology. [Online] 8 (2), 110–120.
Turnbaugh, P. J. et al. (2009) A core gut microbiome in obese and lean twins. Nature. [Online] 457 (7228), 480–484.
Turnbaugh, P. J. et al. (2006) An obesity-associated gut microbiome with increased capacity for energy harvest. Nature. [Online] 444 (7122), 1027–1131.
Vos, P. et al. (2011) Bergey’s Manual of Systematic Bacteriology: Volume 3: The Firmicutes. Springer Science & Business Media.
Wong, J. M. W. et al. (2006) Colonic health: fermentation and short chain fatty acids. Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology. 40 (3), 235–243.
World Health Organization (2015) Obesity and overweight [online]. Available from: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs311/en/ (Accessed 22 July 2015).
Zimmermann, R. et al. (2004) Fat mobilization in adipose tissue is promoted by adipose triglyceride lipase. Science (New York, N.Y.). [Online] 306 (5700), 1383–1386.
