Obese-associated gut microbes and derived phenolic metabolite as mediators of excessive motivation for food reward

BACKGROUND: Excessive hedonic consumption is one of the main drivers for weight gain. Identifying contributors of this dysregulation would help to tackle obesity. The gut microbiome is altered during obesity and regulates host metabolism including food intake. RESULTS: By using fecal material transplantation (FMT) from lean or obese mice into recipient mice, we demonstrated that gut microbes play a role in the regulation of food reward (i.e., wanting and learning processes associated with hedonic food intake) and could be responsible for excessive motivation to obtain sucrose pellets and alterations in dopaminergic and opioid markers in reward-related brain areas. Through untargeted metabolomic approach, we identified the 3-(3’-hydroxyphenyl)propanoic acid (33HPP) as highly positively correlated with the motivation. By administrating 33HPP in mice, we revealed its effects on food reward. CONCLUSIONS: Our data suggest that targeting the gut microbiota and its metabolites would be an interesting therapeutic strategy for compulsive eating, preventing inappropriate hedonic food intake. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s40168-023-01526-w.