Supplementation of diet with non-digestible oligosaccharides alters the intestinal microbiota, but not arthritis development, in IL-1 receptor antagonist deficient mice

PLoS One. 2019 Jul 8;14(7):e0219366. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0219366. eCollection 2019.

Abstract

The intestinal microbiome is perturbed in patients with new-onset and chronic autoimmune inflammatory arthritis. Recent studies in mouse models suggest that development and progression of autoimmune arthritis is highly affected by the intestinal microbiome. This makes modulation of the intestinal microbiota an interesting novel approach to suppress inflammatory arthritis. Prebiotics, defined as non-digestible carbohydrates that selectively stimulate the growth and activity of beneficial microorganisms, provide a relatively non-invasive approach to modulate the intestinal microbiota. The aim of this study was to assess the therapeutic potential of dietary supplementation with a prebiotic mixture of 90% short-chain galacto-oligosaccharides and 10% long-chain fructo-oligosaccharides (scGOS/lcFOS) in experimental arthritis in mice. We here show that dietary supplementation with scGOS/lcFOS has a pronounced effect on the composition of the fecal microbiota. Interestingly, the genera Enterococcus and Clostridium were markedly decreased by scGOS/lcFOS dietary supplementation. In contrast, the family Lachnospiraceae and the genus Lactobacillus, both associated with healthy microbiota, increased in mice receiving scGOS/lcFOS diet. However, the scGOS/lcFOS induced alterations of the intestinal microbiota did not induce significant effects on the intestinal and systemic T helper cell subsets and were not sufficient to reproducibly suppress arthritis in mice. As expected, we did observe a significant increase in the bone mineral density in mice upon dietary supplementation with scGOS/lcFOS for 8 weeks. Altogether, this study suggests that dietary scGOS/lcFOS supplementation is able to promote presumably healthy gut microbiota and improve bone mineral density, but not inflammation, in arthritis-prone mice.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Arthritis, Experimental / pathology*
  • Bone Density / drug effects
  • Dietary Supplements
  • Feces / microbiology
  • Female
  • Gastrointestinal Microbiome / drug effects*
  • Interleukin 1 Receptor Antagonist Protein / deficiency
  • Interleukin 1 Receptor Antagonist Protein / genetics*
  • Lactobacillus / genetics
  • Lactobacillus / isolation & purification
  • Male
  • Mice
  • Mice, Inbred BALB C
  • Mice, Knockout
  • Oligosaccharides / pharmacology*
  • Prebiotics
  • Receptors, Interleukin-1
  • T-Lymphocyte Subsets / cytology
  • T-Lymphocyte Subsets / metabolism

Substances

  • Interleukin 1 Receptor Antagonist Protein
  • Oligosaccharides
  • Prebiotics
  • Receptors, Interleukin-1

Grants and funding

This study was financed by the Nutricia research foundation (2013-06 and 2014-E1) and ZonMW (114024045). Nutricia Research provided support in the form of salaries for authors (H.W., A.H., J.K., J.G.). NIZO food research provided support in the form of salaries for authors (A.H., J.B.), but did not have any additional role in the study design, data interpretation, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. The specific roles of these authors are articulated in the ‘author contributions’ section.