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. 2018 Dec 13;39:591–602. doi: 10.1016/j.ebiom.2018.11.046

Table 1.

Summary of the effects of antidiabetic drugs on the gut microbiota.

Drug Model Major findings Reference
Metformin
Image 1
Rodent: C57BL/6 mice N = 24
  • Improvement in glucose tolerance, fasting glucose levels in HFD-fed mice

  • Decreased proportion of Akkermansia and Alistipes genera and increased Anaerotruncus, Lactococcus, Parabacteroides, Odoribacter, Lawsonia, Blautia, and Lactonifactor see in HFD control mice were reversed by Metformin

  • HFD decreased abundance of Akkermansia

7
Rodent: C57BL/6 mice N = 41
  • Decreased serum glucose levels after metformin treatment in HFD mice

  • Decreased serum total cholesterol levels in female mice, no change in male mice with HFD

  • Metformin in HFD group increased composition of phylum Bacteroidetes, Verrucomicrobia

  • In HFD group treated with metformin, Coprobacillus spp. increased in males while Clostridium spp., Bacteroides spp., and members of family Lactobacillaceae and the class Bacteroidia increased in females

  • A. muciniphila negatively correlated with serum glucose levels

  • Clostridium orbiscindens showed negative correlation with body weight

  • Decreased bacterial diversity during metformin treatment, even more significant than dietary change

  • Increased abundance of A. muciniphila and Clostridium cocleatum with metformin treatment in HFD group

33
Rodent: SPF Wistar rats N = 50
  • Attenuated increase of body weight and inhibited accumulation of body fat in HFD rats

  • Metformin significantly reduced richness and diversity of gut microbiota

  • Significant enrichment of Blautia, Bacteriodes, Butyricoccus, Phascolarctobacterium, and Parasutterella, most of which are SCFA-producing bacteria

  • Inhibiting effects on Clostridium X1Va, Flavonifractor, Lachnospiracea_incertae_sedis, Roseburia, Clostridium XI

40
Rodent: Sprague-Dawley Rats N = 20
  • Abundance of Akkermansia in the upper small intestinal luminal contents remained unchanged in response to a 3-day HFD feeding, both with and without metformin treatment

  • HFD feeding decreases upper small intestinal abundance of Lactobacillus, which is partially revered by metformin pre-treatment

64
Rodent: C57BL/6 mice N = 40
  • Composition of Bacteroidetes in HFD group was significantly lower than that in normal diet (ND) group

  • Composition of Firmicutes in HFD group was significantly higher

  • Metformin administration to HFD group resulted in increased composition of Bacteroides, similar to that in ND group

  • Abundance of A. muciniphila and C. cocleatum increased during metformin treatment of mice on a HFD

62
Human: T2D Patients N = 40
  • Metformin promoted the growth of B. adolescentis in vivo

  • Incubation of fecal samples from treatment-naïve participants with metformin resulted in increased abundance of A. muciniphila

  • Significant increase in A. muciniphila in individuals who received metformin for 4 months

  • Fecal transfer to germ-free mice resulted in improved glucose tolerance in recipients of metformin-altered microbiota

67
Human: T2D patients N = 450
  • Metformin treatment significantly inhibited including Alistipes, Oscillibacter, and Bacteroides

  • Increase in Blautia spp. in metformin-treated group

  • Decrease in Akkermansia in T2DM patients after metformin

66
Human N = 784
  • Metformin-untreated T2D was associated with a decrease in Roseburia, Subdoligranulum, and a cluster of butyrate-producing Clostridiales spp.

  • Metformin treatment associated with a significant increase of Escherichia spp. and a reduced abundance of Intestinibacter

8
Thiazolidinediones

Image 2
Rodent: Male SD rats n = 32
  • HFD led to increase in relative abundance of Proteobacteria

  • Pioglitazone administration in HFD rats led to a reduction in relative abundance of Proteobacteria, but not effect on Enterobacteriaceae and Desulfovibrionaceae

46
Rodent: C57BL/6 mice N = 21
  • HFD altered spatial segregation of bacteria and microbiota composition. Increased Firmicutes, Verrucomicrobia. Decreased Bacteroidales.

  • Treatment with rosiglitazone did not restore microbiota composition of HFD mice to that of Standard Diet mice

  • Treatment of HFD mice with rosiglitazone restored spatial distribution of ileal microbiota compared to SD mice

48
α-Glucosidase inhibitors

Image 3
Rodent: C57BL/6 mice n = 30
  • Miglitol decreased hepatocellular lipid accumulation, inflammation and fibrosis in HFHSD fed mice

  • Miglitol decreased intestinal transit time

  • Miglitol did not reduce body weight but reduced insulin resistance

  • HFHSD diet decreased percentage of Bacteroidetes and increased percentage of Actinobacteria

  • increased percentage of Coriobacteriaceae within the Actinobacteria phylum and Erysipelotrichaceae within the Firmicutes phylum were suppressed in the HFHSD fed mice treated with Miglitol

51
In vitro study
  • Acarbose specifically inhibits the growth of E. coli cells on maltose

52
Human: Chinese patients with prediabetes N = 52
  • Increased abundance of SCFA-producing taxa such as Faecalibacterium, Prevotella, and Lactobacillus in response to acarbose

  • Increased abundance of Dialister following acarbose, which was negatively correlated with HbA1c.

  • Butyricicoccus, Phascolarctobacterium, and Ruminococcus were inhibited

53
Human: Chinese patients with T2D N = 95
  • When Acarbose was added to antidiabetic treatment, Bifidobacterium longum was significantly increased compared to antidiabetic treatment without acarbose

  • No significant difference in content of Enterococcus faecalis between group receiving Acarbose and group without acarbose along with antidiabetic therapy

58
Human: patients with primary hyperlipidemia N = 14
  • Serum TG and cholesterol decreased significantly by Acarbose treatment, no change in weight

  • No significant change in free of conjugated bile acids, or total bile acids

  • Significant increase in Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium

  • decreased in Enterobacteriaceae, Bacteroidaceae, and lecithinase-positive Clostridium

59
GLP-1 Receptor Agonists

Image 4
Rodent: ApoE −/− C57BL/6 mice N = 60
  • Liraglutide decreased body weight gain in both normoglycemic and hyperglycemic mice

  • Mean blood glucose level was significantly lower in Liraglutide-treated mice compared with control

  • Mice being treated with Liraglutide had the lowest food intake

  • decreased microbial diversity in Liraglutide-treated mice on a normal glucose diet; may be attributed to prominent enrichment of Firmicutes, decreased proportion of Bacteroides.

  • Enriched genera include Allobaculum, Turicibacter, Anaerostipes, Blautia, Lactobacillus, Butyricimonas, Desulfovibrio

  • Decreased phylotypes mainly within the order Clostridiales (phylum Firmicutes) and Bacteroidales (phylum Bacteroides).

  • Relative abundance of all obesity-related phylotypes (in the genera Erysipelotrichaceae Incertae Sedis, Marvinbryantia, Roseburia, Candidatus Arthomitus, and Parabacteroides) substantially decreased under Liraglutide administration

69
DPP-4 inhibitors

Image 5
Rodent: ApoE −/− C57BL/6 mice N = 60
  • Saxagliptin had neutral effect on body weight

  • increased of phylum Firmicutes due to increase in the genera Lactobacillus, Allobaculum, and Turicibacter

  • decreased in phylum Bacteroides due to decrease in genera Bacteroides and Prevotella

  • Relative abundance of only one obesity-related phylotype (the genus Candidatus Arthomitus) affected by Saxagliptin

64
Rodent: SD rats N = 15
  • Sitagliptin resulted in a significant reduction of blood glucose while having no impact on body weight in HF/HC fed rats

  • Relative abundance of Firmicutes treated with Sitagliptin was significantly less than that in the diabetic condition.

  • Relative abundance of Bacteroidetes and Proteobacteria increased in Sitagliptin condition

  • After Sitagliptin treatment of diabetic rats, Roseburia increased, Blautia decreased, and Clostridium showed no change in stools

70
Rodent: C57BL/6 J male mice N = 27
  • Vildagliptin decreased Oscillibacter spp., increased Lactobacillus spp. and propionate

  • Reduced ligands of Toll-like receptors 2 and 4

  • Promoted antimicrobial peptide production and increased crypt depth in the ileum

  • Vildagliptin reduced expression of proinflammatory cytokines in the liver

68
SGLT2 Inhibitors

Image 6
Rodent: C57BLKS male mice N = 24
  • Dapagliflozin improved hyperglycemia and reduced circulating markers of inflammation

  • Microbiota richness and diversity reduced in diabetic mice treated with dapagliflozin

  • Reduced Firmicutes:Bacteroidetes ratio in diabetic mice treated with dapagliflozin

  • Increased A. muciniphila in diabetic mice treated with dapagliflozin relative to diabetic control

82
Sulfonylurea

Image 7
Rodent: Sprague-Dawley male rats N = 24
  • Glibenclamide treatment have mild effects on microbiome a-diversity in Streptozotocin induced diabetic rats

  • Glibenclamide treatment increased abundance of Paraprevotellaceae and Prevotella in Streptozotocin induced diabetic rats

75
Human: diabetic N = 43
  • Glipizide have not shown any significant differences on gut microbiome in diabetic patients after 3 months of intervention

74
Combination therapy (PGX+S/MET) Rodent: male Zucker diabetic fatty rats N = 66
  • Rats given PolyGlycopleX (PGX) in conjunction with Sitagliptin and Metformin (S/MET) maintained the lowest body weight than all other groups

  • Rats treated with PGX + MET and PGX + S/MET had the lowest blood glucose concentrations

  • PGX + S/MET and PGX + ET delayed the progression of diabetes in ZDF rats

  • PGX + S/MET was associated with the greatest degree of insulin sensitivity

  • Rats treated with PGX + S/MET displayed the highest β-cell mass in the pancreas

  • Marked and sustained increase in active GLP1 with PGX + S/MET that was higher than all monotherapies

  • Greatest reduction of C. coccoides (Firmicutes) seen in rats treated with PGX + S/MET

  • Bacteroides abundance was significantly higher in rats treated with S/MET and control, compared with MET, PGX, and PGX + S/MET

96
Prebiotics (inulin-type fructans) Human: obese women N = 30
  • Treatment with ITF prebiotics, but not placebo, led to an increase in Bifidobacterium and Faecalibacterium prausnitzii, which were both negatively correlated with serum LPS levels.

  • ITF prebiotics decreased Bacteroides intestinalis, Bacteroides vulgatus, and Propionibacterium

108

HFD: high-fat diet; HFHSD: high-fat high-sucrose diet; ITF: Inulin-type fructans; LPS: lipopolysaccharide; SCFA: short-chain fatty acids; SD: standard diet; SPF: specific-pathogen free; T2D: type-2 diabetes; TG: triglycerides.