Comparison of polyphenol-rich wine grape seed flour-regulated fecal and blood microRNAs in high-fat, high-fructose diet-induced obese mice

Abstract

A biomarker, easily and noninvasively measured in feces, can be useful in monitoring efficacy of novel functional foods against complicated pathologies of obesity-related metabolic diseases. Fecal microRNA (miRNA)s were analyzed for potential noninvasive biomarkers in C57BL/6J mice fed a high-fat and high-fructose diet (HFrD) containing either microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) or 5% polyphenol-rich wine grape seed flour (GSF) for 8 weeks. GSF supplementation significantly reduced HFrD-induced body weight gain, visceral adiposity, and hyperlipidemia. miRNome analysis revealed that GSF supplementation significantly (p < 0.05; fold-change, |FC| ≥ 1.5) regulated 82 and 4 miRNAs in the feces and blood, respectively. Among these miRNAs, 22 in feces and 4 in blood were strongly associated with obesity-related physiological biomarkers, and miR-129-5p in both blood and feces showed a strong correlation with obesity-related biomarkers. These results suggest that fecal miR-129-5p is a potentially useful noninvasive biomarker in monitoring personalized GSF efficacy against obesity and obesity-metabolic disease.