Comparison of the Gut Microbiota Disturbance in Rat Models of Irritable Bowel Syndrome Induced by Maternal Separation and Multiple Early-life Adversity

Abstract

Background: The aims of this study was to identify the effect of modeling procedures on bacterial communities and investigate whether different modeling procedures lead to consistent patterns of gut microbiota compositions. Methods: Two IBS rat models (MS alone and multiple-early-adversity modeling) were established and the gut microbiotas were analyzed using 16S-rRNA-based high-throughput sequencing methods. Results: Rats from both models exhibited visceral hypersensitivity and the two model groups exhibited differences in the extent of visceral sensitivity and fecal water content. The microbial community structure of the two models exhibited significant differences compared to the controls, while the two model groups also exhibited significant differences between them. Furthermore, microbial community functional predictions suggested that the two models exhibited different abundances of metabolisms and pathways. Several common and distinct characteristic differences were also observed between the two model groups. Alloprevotella were more abundant in both model groups, while Butyricicoccus, Turicibacter, Ruminococcus, and Clostridium_sensu_stricto along with the family it belongs to were less abundant relative to controls. In addition, the abundance of Clostridium_IV, Corynebacterium, Rothia, Elusimicrobium, Romboutsia, Allobaculum, Parasutterella and their related taxa were specifically associated with MS group, whereas Butyricimonas and Vampirovibrio along with its related taxa were specifically associated with MAM group. Among those, Butyricimonas, Butyricicoccus and Corynebacterium were found partially mediates early adversity exposure-induced visceral hypersensitivity. Conclusions: our results highlight the importance in evaluating gut microbiota characteristics in IBS research while also systematically considering potential modeling procedural differences. The microbial compositional/functional differences identified in this study were suggestive to further investigation of mechanism of early adversity induced IBS.

The Effects of Stress and Diet on the “Brain–Gut” and “Gut–Brain” Pathways in Animal Models of Stress and Depression

“…Several recent studies have reported significant differences in β-diversity at the phylum level [21,42,51,52,62,64,68,92,94,95]. However, one study reported a significant difference at the genus level in stressed animals versus controls and a separate study reported significant differences at both the phylum and genus levels [83,101]. Seven studies reported no significant differences to β-diversity.…”

Microbiome and Metabolome Variation as Indicator of Social Stress in Female Prairie Voles

“…Furthermore, evidence is emerging that increases in the abundance of Cyanobacteria in gut communities is correlated with gastrointestinal and neurodegenerative disease [ 41 ]. For example, increased abundances of Vampirovibrio , specifically, have been found in colorectal fecal communities in a rat model of irritable bowel syndrome established by subjecting rats to multiple forms of stress, including early maternal separation [ 42 ]. Additionally, it is worth noting that, the one other study to compare the gut communities of paired and isolated prairie voles, found increases in the abundance of a Gastranaerophilales gut metagenome species in isolated animals [ 18 ].…”

“…Of the notable taxa that differed between paired and isolated voles, Anaerostipes and Lactobacillaceae , which had a greater abundance in the fecal communities of paired voles, have previously been associated with putative benefits to host health either through the production of short chain fatty acids (SCFAs) [ 43 , 44 , 45 ] or regulation of pathogen growth and colonization [ 23 , 46 ]. Conversely, several taxa, such as Enterococcus , Metaprevotella , and Staphylococcaceae that had a greater abundance in the fecal communities of isolated voles have previously been associated with disease [ 35 , 42 , 47 , 48 , 49 ].…”