The Effect Stool Transplantation as an Adjunct Treatment in Obesity in Rats

Abstract

Introduction: Obesity is defined as a multifactorial metabolic syndrome, in which there's an excessive number of fat cells within the tissues. It's discussed that intestinal microbiota might have a relevant relation with obesity, since it's relevantly altered in obese patients. Objectives: To assess the effect of stool transplantation (ST) in the condition of obesity and its outcomes in an experimental model of cafeteria diet by hepatic function test, lipid profile, total glycemia and histology. Methods: 40 male wistar assigned in 5 groups: Control (CO), control with antibiotics (CO + ATB), obesity (CAF + ATB), stool transplantation (ATB + ST) and obesity with stool transplantation (CAF + ATB + ST). During the experiment, obesity induction groups received Cafeteria diet (CAF), whereas the remaining groups had normal diet ad libitum. After 3 months, daily ST was carried out for 8 weeks by gavage procedure. Animals were euthanized and mesenterial fat, aorta and liver were havested for further analysis. Results: It was observed that the CAF diet groups had a higher mesenterial fat weight compared to CO groups (p = 0.0078). Hepatic enzymes and free cholesterol also presented statistical significance comparing CO and CAF (p < 0.0001). There were no differences in laboratory tests between the groups that received ST and those that didn't. The histopathological evaluation comparing CAF + ATB and CAF + ATB + ST showed that all groups presented steatosis and aortic lesion, but the ST groups had less signs of injure. Conclusion: CAF resulted in an expected obese metabolic syndrome. In relation to the ST, there were no beneficial results regarding glycemia and triglycerides.