Table 2.

Prebiotic modulation of gut microbiota in rodents.

Reference	Rodent/metabolic model	Study design (including treatment, type of prebiotics, dosage and duration)	Effects on gut microbiota	Effects on metabolic derangements or abnormalities
Dewulf et al. and Neyrinck et al. [62,63]	Mice; Obesity	Mice fed high-fat diet and provided with inulin-type fructans (0.2 g/day per mouse) or arabinoxylans (10% w/w) for 4 weeks	↑ Abundance of Bifidobacteria and Bacteroides-Prevotella species ↓ Number of Clostridium and Roseburia species	↓ Body weight gain ↓ Serum and hepatic cholesterol levels ↓ Insulin resistance ↓ Adipocyte size and adiposity ↓ PPAR-γ-activated differentiation factors ↑ adipose tissue GPR43 expression ↑ Gut barrier function ↓ Inflammatory markers ↓ Expression of genes involved in fatty acid uptake, differentiation, fatty acid oxidation and inflammation ↓ Lipogenic enzyme activity
Everard et al. [60]	Mice; Obesity and diabetes mellitus	Genetic or diet-induced obese and diabetic mice fed with prebiotic-enriched diet (oligofructose, 0.3 g/mouse/day) for 8 weeks	↑ Bacteroidetes phylum ↓ Firmicutes phylum	↓ Glucose intolerance and plasma glucose ↑ L-cell number and plasma GLP-1 ↑ Leptin sensitivity ↑ LPL and proglucagon mRNA levels ↓ Plasma TG and adipose tissue weight ↓ Muscle TG and lipid content ↓ Adipose tissue oxidative stress ↓ Low grade inflammation
Parnell and Reimer [61]	Rats; Obesity	Obese rats fed 10% and 20% fibre (inulin: oligofructose) diets for 10 weeks	↑ Number of Bacteroidetes group ↓ Number of Firmicutes and Clostridium coccoides group ↑ Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus species	↓ Energy intake ↓ Glucagon ↑ GLP-1 secretion ↓ Ghrelin response ↑ mRNA levels of caecal peptide YY and proglucagon ↓ Ghrelin O-acyltransferase mRNA levels
Erejuwa et al. and Nemoseck et al. [67,87–89]	Rats; Diabetes mellitus	Rats fed honey or sucrose as well as STZ-induced diabetic rats fed honey for 33 days	Uncharacterized	↓ Body weight gain in honey fed vs. sucrose fed rats ↑ Body weight in honey-treated STZ vs. STZ control rats ↓ Epididymal fat weight ↓ Serum levels of glucose and fructosamine ↓ Serum levels of TG, VLDL-C, leptin and bilirubin ↑ Serum albumin, insulin and HDL-C

GPR, G-protein-coupled receptor; PPAR-γ, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma; GLP-1, glucagon-like peptide 1; LPL, lipoprotein lipase; TG, triglycerides; HDL-C, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol; VLDL-C, very low-density lipoprotein cholesterol; STZ, streptozotocin; ↑ = Increase/enhance; ↓ = Reduce/suppress.