Related Experiment Video
Updated: Dec 14, 2025

Detecting Establishment of Shared Blood Supply in Parabiotic Mice by Caudal Vein Glucose Injection
Published on: February 6, 2020
Relationships between gut microbiota, plasma glucose and gestational diabetes mellitus
Ting Chen1, Yuqing Zhang2,3, Yiyun Zhang2,3
1Nanjing Maternity and Child Health Care Institute, Nanjing Maternity and Child Health Care Hospital, Women's Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China.
Aims/Introduction:
To investigate the changes in the gut microbiome in the second trimester of pregnancy associated with later-diagnosed gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) and their relationship with fasting serum levels of metabolites, especially glucose.
Materials And Methods:
We carried out a case-control study with 110 GDM patients and 220 healthy pregnant women who provided fecal samples for 16S ribosomal ribonucleic acid sequencing in the second trimester of pregnancy.
Results:
Our results showed that GDM patients had lower α-diversity that was significantly associated with glycemic traits. Principal coordinates analysis showed significantly different microbial communities, as within GDM patients, seven genera within the phylum Firmicutes and two within the phylum Actinobacteria were significantly decreased, and four genera within phylum Bacteroidetes were increased. In addition, microbiota co-occurrence network analysis was carried out, and decreased genera within the phylum Firmicutes in GDM patients showed a significant negative correlation with oral glucose tolerance test values. Finally, microbial gene functions related to glycan biosynthesis and metabolism were found to be enriched in GDM patients.
Conclusions:
Our results show the relationship between changed gut microbiota composition in the second trimester of pregnancy before the diagnosis of GDM and fasting serum levels of metabolites, which might inform the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of GDM.
Related Concept Videos
Pathophysiology of Diabetes
Type 1 diabetes is characterized by autoimmune-mediated destruction of pancreatic β cells, with environmental factors potentially triggering this process in genetically susceptible individuals. Despite many not having a family history, certain genes increase susceptibility,...
Diabetes Mellitus: Type 2 and Gestational
Glucose Transporters
Facilitated diffusion-glucose transporters (GLUTs) are encoded by the solute-linked carrier (SLC) family 2, subfamily A gene family, or SLC2A. The 14 GLUT protein members are distributed into three classes:
Anatomy of the Intestines
Small Intestines
The small intestine is an ~7 meter-long tube with an inner diameter of just 2.5 cm. Since most nutrients are absorbed here, the inner lining of the...
Glucose Absorption Into the Small Intestine
Dipeptidyl Peptidase 4 Inhibitors

