Obesity is a multifactorial disorder induced by a combination of genetic and environmental factors, characterized by chronic accumulation of adipose tissue. Dietary lipids significantly contribute to obesity but regulation of energy homeostasis may be altered by resident gut microbiome. Altering or transplanting gut microbiome may lead to harmful or beneficial effects in humans. Zebrafish has become an excellent vertebrate model for studying dietary lipid absorption and metabolic disorders owing to genetic homology (>80%) and organ similarity to humans, and remain amenable to several genetic manipulation techniques. Our objectives for the present investigation are to study the effects of dietary cholesterol supplemented diet for 8 weeks and assessing the role of gut microbes transplantation from obese zebrafish in inducing obesity. Body Mass Index (BMI) values of obese zebrafish was significantly (P>0.001) higher than that of the control. Consumption of fat-rich diet led to increased accumulation and size of lipid droplets in enterocytes and affecting hepatocytes thereby inducing non-alcoholic hepatic steatosis. Interestingly, transfer of gut microbiome from obese to control zebrafish by faecal transplantation through rearing water combined with cholesterol supplementation accelerated adipocyte accumulation and obesity within 5/6 weeks. Role of dietary lipids and gut microbiome in obesity are discussed.
