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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, October 2009, p. 6451-6456, Vol. 75, No. 20
0099-2240/09/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.00692-09
Copyright © 2009, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Response of Gut Microbiota to Fasting and Hibernation in Syrian Hamsters{triangledown} ,{dagger}

Kei Sonoyama,1* Reiko Fujiwara,2 Naoki Takemura,2 Toru Ogasawara,2 Jun Watanabe,3 Hiroyuki Ito,4 and Tatsuya Morita4

Laboratory of Food Biochemistry, Division of Applied Bioscience, Research Faculty of Agriculture, Hokkaido University, Sapporo 060-8589, Japan,1 Laboratory of Gastrointestinal Physiology, Graduate School of Life Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo 060-8589, Japan,2 Creative Research Institute "Sousei," Hokkaido University, Sapporo 001-0021, Japan,3 Department of Applied Biological Chemistry, Faculty of Agriculture, Shizuoka University, Shizuoka 422-8529, Japan4

Received 24 March 2009/ Accepted 14 August 2009

Although hibernating mammals wake occasionally to eat during torpor, this period represents a state of fasting. Fasting is known to alter the gut microbiota in nonhibernating mammals; therefore, hibernation may also affect the gut microbiota. However, there are few reports of gut microbiota in hibernating mammals. The present study aimed to compare the gut microbiota in hibernating torpid Syrian hamsters with that in active counterparts by using culture-independent analyses. Hamsters were allocated to either torpid, fed active, or fasted active groups. Hibernation was successfully induced by maintaining darkness at 4°C. Flow cytometry analysis of cecal bacteria showed that 96-h fasting reduced the total gut bacteria. This period of fasting also reduced the concentrations of short chain fatty acids in the cecal contents. In contrast, total bacterial numbers and concentrations of short chain fatty acids were unaffected by hibernation. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis of PCR-amplified 16S rRNA gene fragments indicated that fasting and hibernation modulated the cecal microbiota. Analysis of 16S rRNA clone library and species-specific real-time quantitative PCR showed that the class Clostridia predominated in both active and torpid hamsters and that populations of Akkermansia muciniphila, a mucin degrader, were increased by fasting but not by hibernation. From these results, we conclude that the gut microbiota responds differently to fasting and hibernation in Syrian hamsters.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Laboratory of Food Biochemistry, Research Faculty of Agriculture, Hokkaido University, Kita-9, Nishi-9, Kita-ku, Sapporo-shi, Hokkaido 060-8589, Japan. Phone and fax: 81-11-706-2496. E-mail: ksnym{at}chem.agr.hokudai.ac.jp

{triangledown} Published ahead of print on 21 August 2009.

{dagger} Supplemental material for this article may be found at http://aem.asm.org/.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, October 2009, p. 6451-6456, Vol. 75, No. 20
0099-2240/09/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.00692-09
Copyright © 2009, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.





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