Short-term dietary and exercise interventions modify the CD86-Faecalibaculum association linked to adipose tissue inflammation after prolonged high-fat diet exposure
Experimental study demonstrates that diet reversal and exercise reduce adipose inflammation and gut dysbiosis in obese mice, indicating lifestyle changes reverse chronic metabolic damage.
Key Points
To determine whether short-term dietary reversal and exercise can mitigate adipose tissue inflammation, macrophage polarization, and gut dysbiosis following prolonged high-fat diet exposure.
Male C57BL/6 mice (n = 26) fed a high-fat diet (HFD) for 44 weeks were allocated to 8 weeks of sedentary HFD (initial n = 8, final n = 5), exercised HFD (n = 6), sedentary normal diet (n = 6), or exercised normal diet (n = 6).
Evaluated metabolic parameters, survival, histology, adipose tissue macrophage polarization markers (CD86, CD11c), and gut microbiota using long-read 16S rRNA sequencing.
Sedentary HFD mice had a reduced survival rate of 62.5% (5/8) compared to 100% in all intervention groups (log-rank p = 0.0053), with body weight changing by +0.39 g in Sed-HFD versus -2.93 g in Sed-ND and -7.03 g in Ex-ND.
The CD86-based M1/M2 macrophage ratio decreased significantly from 1.97 ± 0.72 in Sed-HFD to 1.05 ± 0.48 in Sed-ND and 1.06 ± 0.46 in Ex-ND (p < 0.05).
Faecalibaculum rodentium correlated strongly with CD86⁺ CD11c⁺ macrophages (r = 0.75, p < 0.001) and total CD86⁺ macrophages (r = 0.43, p = 0.043), while diet reversal decreased the Firmicutes/Bacteroidota ratio (p = 0.0313) and enriched Akkermansia and Roseburia.