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Updated: Jul 5, 2026

Differentiated Mouse Adipocytes in Primary Culture: A Model of Insulin Resistance
Published on: February 17, 2023
[Role of intestinal flora in insulin resistance and obesity]
Amal Yazigi1, Bénédicte Gaborit, Juan Patricio Nogueira
1Service de diabétologie-endocrinologie-nutrition, CHU Bichat Claude Bernard, F-75877 Paris Cedex 18, France.
Abstract:
Intestinal flora can be modified by diet in both humans and rodents. Excess caloric intake in obese humans and rodents promotes proliferation of the bacterial phylum Firmicutes. Bacteria of the Firmicutes phylum permit more efficient intestinal extraction of nutrients. Oral transplantation of Firmicutes flora into axenic mice is sufficient to make them obese. The translocation towards the general circulation of the lipopolysaccharides released by lysis of Gram-negative intestinal bacilli promotes systemic inflammation. This inflammation plays a role in the genesis of insulin resistance and hepatic steatosis in rodents. Pharmacological or dietary manipulation of intestinal flora may be a new strategy for treatment of overweight and its complications.
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