本期Nature Communications上发表的一篇论文报告说，限制热量促进肠道细菌的生长，同时实验鼠的寿命也会有所延长。这一发现表明，限制热量也许会通过诱导一个健康的肠道微生物群来增强其对宿主的健康促进效应。
通过减少食物摄取限制热量已知能延长一系列模型生物的寿命。肠道微生物群在宿主健康和疾病中所起作用正在越来越多地被认识到，其组成主要由饮食决定。Liping Zhao让小鼠终生采用一种热量受到限制的饮食，并对它们肠道微生物群随时间所发生的结构变化进行记录。
该研究小组报告说，特定细菌，如乳酸杆菌属，与寿命成正相关，其数量因热量限制而增加。同样，这一热量受到限制的饮食减少了与寿命成负相关的细菌的数量。这些变化与血清中“脂多糖结合蛋白”（经常与炎症关联在一起的一个标记物）水平的降低有关，这表明：由来自肠道细菌的抗原所造成的炎症降低，也许是限制热量所带来的健康好处之一。
还需要进一步的研究来弄清肠道微生物群的这些结构变化怎样延长寿命，同时确认它们是否能用作饮食性抗衰老干预措施的开发工作的生物标记。（生物谷Bioon.com）
doi:10.1038/ncomms3163
PMC:
PMID:
Structural modulation of gut microbiota in life-long calorie-restricted mice
Chenhong Zhang, Shoufeng Li, Liu Yang, Ping Huang, Wenjun Li, Shengyue Wang, Guoping Zhao, Menghui Zhang, Xiaoyan Pang, Zhen Yan, Yong Liu & Liping Zhao
Calorie restriction has been regarded as the only experimental regimen that can effectively lengthen lifespan in various animal models, but the actual mechanism remains controversial. The gut microbiota has been shown to have a pivotal role in host health, and its structure is mostly shaped by diet. Here we show that life-long calorie restriction on both high-fat or low-fat diet, but not voluntary exercise, significantly changes the overall structure of the gut microbiota of C57BL/6 J mice. Calorie restriction enriches phylotypes positively correlated with lifespan, for example, the genus Lactobacillus on low-fat diet, and reduces phylotypes negatively correlated with lifespan. These calorie restriction-induced changes in the gut microbiota are concomitant with significantly reduced serum levels of lipopolysaccharide-binding protein, suggesting that animals under calorie restriction can establish a structurally balanced architecture of gut microbiota that may exert a health benefit to the host via reduction of antigen load from the gut.
