The gut microbiota : A predisposing factor in obesity, diabetes and atherosclerosis

The cluster of pathologies comprising the metabolic syndrome (MetS) includes increased waist circumference, hyperglycemia, elevated blood pressure and hyperlipidemia. With time, these conditions present a major risk of developing obesity, type 2 diabetes and atherosclerosis. Fecal microbiota transplant (FMT) experiments performed in mice have given an intriguing foundation for a microbial-based therapy of obesity in humans. In the years 2004 - 2009, Gordon and colleagues presented ground-breaking studies on the role of the gut microbiota in host energy metabolism and proposed the hypothesis that obesity alters the composition of bacteria in the gut. Lipopolysaccharides (LPS) is a component of Gramnegative bacteria cell walls and is pro-inflammatory through activation of Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) on antigen-presenting cells located both in the gut and in other tissues in the body. Diabetes mellitus (DM) presents in two major forms: type I and type II, characterized by vastly different molecular events leading up to malfunction of glucose homeostasis