Intestinal acetate and butyrate availability is associated with glucose metabolism in healthy individuals

Madelief Wijdeveld; Anouk Schrantee; Anouk Hagemeijer; Aart J Nederveen; Torsten P M Scheithauer; Johannes H M Levels; Andrei Prodan; Willem M de Vos; Max Nieuwdorp; Richard G Ijzerman

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2023.108478

Intestinal acetate and butyrate availability is associated with glucose metabolism in healthy individuals

iScience. 2023 Nov 16;26(12):108478. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.108478. eCollection 2023 Dec 15.

Affiliations

¹ Department of Internal and Experimental Vascular Medicine, Amsterdam University Medical Centers, location AMC, 1105 AZ Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, the Netherlands.
² Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Amsterdam University Medical Center, location AMC, 1105 AZ Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, the Netherlands.
³ Department of Microbiology, Wageningen University, 6708 PB Wageningen, Gelderland, the Netherlands.
⁴ Human Microbiome Research Program, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, 00100 Helsinki, Uusimaa, Finland.
⁵ Department of Endocrinology, Amsterdam University Medical Centers, location VUMC, 1081 HV Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, the Netherlands.

Abstract

Animal studies suggest that short-chain fatty acids acetate and butyrate are key players in the gut-brain axis and may affect insulin sensitivity. We investigated the association of intestinal acetate and butyrate availability (measured by butyryl-coenzyme A transferase (ButCoA) gene amount) with insulin sensitivity and secretion in healthy subjects from the HELIUS cohort study from the highest 15% (N = 30) and the lowest 15% (N = 30) intestinal ButCoA gene amount. The groups did not differ in insulin sensitivity or secretion. However, the high ButCoA group showed lower glucose and insulin peaks during the first 60 min after a meal and a higher nadir during the second 60 min (p < 0.01), suggesting delayed glucose adsorption from the small intestine. Our data suggest that chronically increased acetate and butyrate availability may improve glucose metabolism by delaying gastric emptying and intestinal adsorption. Future studies should further investigate the effect of acetate and butyrate interventions.

Keywords: Human metabolism; Microbiome.