PMC

Correlations of body weight with abundances of gut microflora. (a) At the phylum level, the abundance of Firmicutes was positively associated with body weight, whereas the abundance of Bacteroidetes was negatively associated with body weight. (b) At the genus level, the abundance of Lactobacillus was positively associated with body weight, whereas the abundance of Turicibacter was negatively associated with body weight.

Effect of high fat diet consumption for 16 weeks on the protein levels of lysozyme in the small intestinal epithelial cells. (a) Immunohistochemistry; (b) western blotting.

Effect of high fat diet consumption on circulating inflammatory cytokine profile. (a) Serum inflammatory cytokine levels across the groups. (b) Pearson's correlations of IFNγ and TNF-α with body weight.

Effect of HF consumption on the relative expression of Paneth cell-antimicrobial peptides. Except for cryptdin 5, the mRNA expressions of lysozyme, Reg IIIγ, and angiogenin 4 were significantly reduced at either 8 weeks or 12 and 16 weeks of HF feeding.

Effect of high fat diet and time course of feeding on the composition of gut microflora. Based on the data of 4 phyla (a) and 8 genera (b) examined, the gut microflora were significantly altered after 8 wk feeding of a high fat diet, and no significantly alterations occurred for further high fat consumption. ∗ means there were significant changes (p < 0.05) between HF and LF groups.

Effect of high fat diet consumption on the relative expression of inflammatory cytokines in the small intestinal epithelial cells. Among the 4 cytokines examined, except for IFNγ, the mRNA expressions of TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-6 were significantly enhanced at least in one of the three HF groups when compared to the control group fed with a LF diet for 8 weeks.