Urinary phenotyping indicates weight loss-independent metabolic effects of roux-en-Y gastric bypass in mice

Patients with a body mass index (BMI) above 35 kg/m2 with metabolic diseases benefit from Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) independently of their final BMI and the amount of body weight lost. However, the weight loss independent metabolic effects induced by RYGB remain less well understood. To elucidate metabolic changes after RYGB, 1H NMR spectroscopy-based urine metabolic profiles from RYGB (n = 7), ad libitum-fed sham (AL, n = 5), and body-weight-matched sham (BWM, n = 5) operated mice were obtained. Gut morphometry and fecal energy content were analyzed. Food intake and body weight of RYGB mice were significantly reduced (p = 0.001) compared to sham-AL. There was a strong tendency that BWM-shams required less food to maintain the same body weight as RYGB mice (p = 0.05). No differences were found in fecal energy content between the groups, excluding malabsorption in RYGB animals. Unlike RYGB-operated rats, gut hypertrophy was not observed in RYGB-operated mice. Urinary tricarboxylic acid cycle intermediates were higher in the sham groups, suggesting altered mitochondrial metabolism after RYGB surgery. Higher urinary levels of trimethylamine, hippurate and trigonelline in RYGB mice indicate that the RYGB operation caused microbial disturbance. Taken together, we demonstrate for the first time that there are RYGB specific metabolic effects, which are independent of food intake and body weight loss. Increased utilization of TCA cycle intermediates and altered gut microbial-host co-metabolites might indicate increased energy expenditure and microbial changes in the gut, respectively. © 2013 American Chemical Society.