Endocrinology & Metabolic Syndrome
Open Access
ISSN: 2161-1017
+44 1478 350008
ISSN: 2161-1017
+44 1478 350008
Varykina G Thackray
University of California- San Diego School of Medicine, USA
Posters & Accepted Abstracts: Endocrinol Metab Syndr
Women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) have an increased risk of metabolic disease. Studies have shown that the human gut microbiome is altered in humans with obesity or type 2 diabetes and that changes in the gut microbiome may cause metabolic dysregulation. Although the Western diet has been proposed to contribute to the development of PCOS, it is unknown whether the gut microbiome is disturbed in women with PCOS. Since there is considerable variation in the human gut microbiome, we investigated whether the gut microbiome was altered in a PCOS mouse model using letrozole, a nonsteroidal aromatase inhibitor, to increase endogenous testosterone levels. Five weeks of letrozole treatment resulted in hallmarks of PCOS including elevated testosterone, acyclicity, polycystic ovaries and a metabolic phenotype. Using comprehensive lab animal monitoring system (CLAMS) metabolic cages, we demonstrated that food intake; respiration and energy expenditure were not changed, indicating that these factors are not responsible for the metabolic phenotype in the PCOS mouse model. Using 16S rRNA gene sequencing, we demonstrated changes in the gut microbiome of letrozole-treated mice including a substantial reduction in bacterial species and phylogenetic richness. In addition, letrozole treatment correlated with changes in the abundance of specific Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes bacteria implicated in other mouse models of metabolic disease. Understanding the role of the gut microbiome in PCOS may provide important insight into the pathogenesis of PCOS and lead to the development of novel treatment options for women with PCOS, including pre- or probiotic therapies.
Email: vthackray@ucsd.edu