D1 | Abstract 17

Annual NUTRIM Symposium 18 November 2020

APPLIED SCIENCE

Carbohydrate-induced resilience of the gut microbiota after antibiotics use: The CARMA-study

Lars Vliex 1, John Penders2, Marina Fassarella3, Erwin Zoetendal3, Ellen Blaak3

1 Department of Human Biology, NUTRIM, Maastricht University, The Netherlands
2 Department of Medical Microbiology, Maastricht University, The Netherlands
3 Department of Agrotechnology and Food Sciences, Wageningen University and Research, The Netherlands
Antibiotics are widely used to combat infectious diseases, and while they are generally effective, they may also negatively impact health. Misuse and overuse of antibiotics has led to the increased spread of antibiotic resistant bacterial strains. Infections caused by these bacteria become increasingly difficult to treat, leading to higher mortality. Additionally, certain antibiotics have shown to be able to disturb gut microbiota composition. Dysbiosis of the microbiota is prevalent in affections such as obesity, type 2 diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular disease. Thus, minimizing the extent of microbial dysbiosis may be important in order to limit detrimental metabolic health outcomes. In our study, we aim to investigate the potential of the prebiotic 2’-Fucosyllactose (2’-FL) to restore gut microbiota composition and activity, as well as metabolic parameters, after antibiotic use.

To this end, a double-blind placebo-controlled randomized intervention study will be performed, in which 40 overweight/obese adults will be included. All participants will receive the vancomycin antibiotic for 1 week in order to modulate gut microbiota composition. Afterwards, half the group will receive 2’-FL supplementation for 8 weeks, while the other half will receive an isocaloric placebo. At baseline, after antibiotic use and after supplementation, faecal microbial composition (16S rRNA Illumina sequencing) and activity (metaproteomics, short-chain fatty acid levels), glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity (oral glucose tolerance test) and fasting plasma metabolite profile will be determined.

Furthermore, an abdominal subcutaneous adipose tissue biopsy will be taken to assess pathways of adipose tissue lipid handling and inflammation. Besides this, microbial composition and activity will be analysed at 3 additional timepoints during the supplementation period, in order to give a more detailed overview over-time. We hypothesize that 2’-FL supplementation will improve gut microbiota resilience after antibiotic use, leading to improved recovery from microbial dysbiosis.
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