Lipid- and gut microbiota-modulating effects of graphene oxide nanoparticles in high-fat diet-induced hyperlipidemic mice.

Graphene oxide (GO) suspensions can act as a good dispersant and drug delivery system for effective dispersion and drug sustained release. In this study, we investigated the impact of GO on blood/liver lipids and gut microbiota structure in high-fat diet (HFD)-induced hyperlipidemic mice. Oral administration of GO for 28 days remarkably decreased the lipid levels in blood and liver . GO did not decrease the total number of gut bacteria but increased the relative abundance of short-chain fatty acid (SCFA)-producing bacteria such as Clostridium clusters IV and Allobaculum spp. GO also enhanced the copying of bacterial butyryl coenzyme A transferase (BcoA), a key butyrate-producing gene. Although further pharmacological studies are still needed, these results provided an interesting hint that GO may exert beneficial effects on the host's metabolism via selective modulation of SCFA-producing gut microbes.