High fat diet reveals sex-specific fecal and liver metabolic alterations in C57BL/6J obese mice

Abstract

Obesity is a major health concern that poses significant risks for many other diseases, including diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer. Prevalence of these diseases varies by biological sex. This study utilizes a mouse (C57BL/6J) model of obesity to analyze liver and fecal metabolic profiles at various time points of dietary exposure: 5, 9, and 12 months in control or high fat diet (HFD)-exposed mice. Our study discovered that the female HFD group has a more discernable perturbation and set of significant changes in metabolic profiles than the male HFD group. In the female mice, HFD fecal metabolites including pyruvate, aspartate, and glutamate were lower than control diet-exposed mice after both 9th and 12th month exposure time points, while lactate and alanine were significantly downregulated only at the 12th month. Perturbations of liver metabolic profiles were observed in both male and female HFD groups, compared to controls at the 12th month. Overall, the female HFD group showed higher lactate and glutathione levels compared to controls, while the male HFD group showed higher levels of glutamine and taurine compared to controls. These metabolite-based findings in both fecal and liver samples for a diet-induced effect of obesity may help guide future pioneering discoveries relating to the analysis and prevention of obesity in people, especially for females.