Abstract
OBJECTIVES: To examine the effects of time restricted feeding on metabolic markers and circadian rhythm associated with gut microbiota in healthy males. METHODS: Two groups (TRF, n = 56; Non-TRF, n = 24) of male adults were enrolled. TRF group provided blood at Pre-TRF and Post-TRF, while Non-TRF one time after 25 days of trial. Lipid and liver profiles were determined. RT-PCR was applied for circadian and inflammatory genes expression. The 16S rRNA gene were sequenced at Illumina Miseq v3 platform to comprehensively catalogue the composition and abundance of bacteria in stool. The treatment effect for laboratory measures were evaluated using an analysis of covariance (ANCOVA). Principle component analysis (PCoA) was used to explore the microbiome data structure on the basis of dissimilarity measurement (Bray-Curtis dissimilarity) among samples. Permutational multivariate ANOVA (PERMANOVA) was used for formal statistical testing to investigate the whole microbial community difference between groups. Pearson or Spearman correlation was conducted to correlate log transformed relative abundance of gut microbiome. Differential analysis of the gut microbiome composition between two groups was performed using LEfSe, a software to support high-dimensional class comparisons for microbiome data. RESULTS: We showed that TRF ameliorated the lipid and liver profiles of the individuals. TRF induced a non-significant reduction in gene expression and serum level of IL-1β and TNF-α. TRF group has significantly increased gut microbial richness, with enrichment of the Prevotellaceae and Bacteroideaceae. TRF enhanced circadian genes expression by activation of Sirt1, which is positive associated with gut microbiome richness. CONCLUSIONS: TRF could be a safe remedy for the prevention of metabolic diseases related to dyslipidemia, while regulates circadian rhythm induced by gut microbiome modulation. This study can help to introduce some future research directions like how TRF can regulate host metabolism, nutrient homeostasis, circadian robustness and gut microbiota diversity at cellular level in human model? FUNDING SOURCES: National Natural Science Foundation of China.