Vitamin D Supplementation in Laboratory-Bred Mice: An In Vivo Assayon Gut Microbiome and Body Weight

摘要

Saudi Arabia is in a tropical geographical region with a population that hasaccess to adequate diet. There is, however, a high level of vitamin D deficiencyin the Kingdom, comorbid with other disease. There is the postulation of acorrelation between a healthy gut microbiota and balanced levels of serumvitamin D. This investigation looks into the effect of vitamin D supplementationon the gut flora of laboratory-bred mice as well as any possible association onbody weight. BALB/C mice weighing between 34 and 35.8 g were divided into 4groups and placed on daily doses of vitamin D of 3.75 µg (low dose), 7.5 µg(normal dose), and 15 µg (high dose). The fourth group was the control groupthat did not receive any supplementation with vitamin D. Body weights weremonitored on weekly basis, while faecal samples from the rectum were obtainedfor microbial culturing and the monitoring of bacterial colony count using theVitek 2 Compact automated system (BioMerieux, Marcy-l’Etoile, France) accordingto manufacturer’s guidelines. The data presented as mean ± SD, while significantdifferences were determined with 2-way analysis of variance in comparingdifferences within and between treatment groups. The different doses of vitaminD showed varying effects on the body weight and gut microbial colonies of themice. There was a highly significant difference between the control, 15 µg(high), and 7.5 µg (normal) dose groups. This is suggestive that supplementationwith vitamin D could a role in the gut microbial flora in the gut which couldreflect in changes in body weight.