Butyrate attenuated fat gain through gut microbiota modulation in db/db mice following dapagliflozin treatment

We investigated the effect of a combination treatment with dapagliflozin (Dapa), a sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitor and butyrate on weight change in db/db mice. Six-week-old male db/db mice were assigned to four groups: vehicle with normal chow diet (NCD), Dapa with NCD, vehicle with 5% sodium butyrate-supplemented NCD (NaB), or Dapa with 5% NaB. After six weeks of treatment, faecal microbiota composition was analysed by sequencing 16S ribosomal RNA genes. In the vehicle with NaB and Dapa + NaB groups, body weight increase was attenuated, and amount of food intake decreased compared with the vehicle with the NCD group. The Dapa + NaB group gained the least total and abdominal fat from baseline. Intestinal microbiota of this group was characterized by a decrease of the Firmicutes to Bacteroidetes ratio, a decrease of Adlercreutzia and Alistipes, as well as an increase of Streptococcus. In addition, the proportion of Adlercreutzia and Alistipes showed a positive correlation with total fat gain, whereas Streptococcus showed a negative correlation. Inferred metagenome function revealed that tryptophan metabolism was upregulated by NaB treatment. We demonstrated a synergistic effect of Dapa and NaB treatment on adiposity reduction, and this phenomenon might be related to intestinal microbiota alteration.