39 Dietary Blueberries to Improve Oral Dysbiosis

Faculty Mentor: Anandh Babu Pon Velayuthum (Nutrition and Integrative Physiology, University of Utah)

The gut and oral cavity are the two most significant microbial habitats and are closely connected through the digestive pathway. Evidence indicates microbial transmission (oral-to-oral and gut-to-oral) regulates the pathogenesis of diseases such as cancer and is mediated through the oral-to-gut microbiome axis. An imbalance in the oral microbes (oral dysbiosis) is implicated in oral diseases and systemic diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease, cardiovascular disease, and Alzheimer’s disease. Our lab recently showed that dietary supplementation of blueberries improves diabetes-induced gut dysbiosis. Dietary blueberries increased the abundance of commensal microbes and decreased the abundance of opportunistic microbes in diabetic mice. Blueberries contain phytochemicals such as anthocyanins which act as prebiotics and promote the growth of beneficial gut microbes. In our current study, we are evaluating whether supplementation of blueberry improves a high-fat diet and antibiotics-induced oral dysbiosis in a preclinical model. Mice were divided into four groups: control (C), induced oral dysbiosis in a high-fat diet fed and treated with antibiotics (HFA), and HFA supplemented with a diet containing a nutritional dosage of freeze-dried wild blueberries (HBA). The Antibiotics cocktail was supplemented to the mice in the drinking water. We isolated the bacterial DNA from oral and cecum samples. Currently, we are analyzing oral and gut microbiomes using 16s rRNA amplification. We expect that the probiotic effect of anthocyanins and the translocation of bacteria (between the oral and gut microbiota) could help to replenish the gut and oral microbiome once destroyed and/or altered. Our study will identify whether dietary blueberries improve oral dysbiosis by modulating the oral-gut microbiome axis.