Gut microbiota analysis in rats with methamphetamine-induced conditioned place preference

Abstract

Methamphetamine abuse is a major public health crisis. Because accumulating evidence supports the hypothesis that the gut microbiota plays an important role in central nervous system (CNS) function, and research on the roles of the microbiome in CNS disorders holds conceivable promise for developing novel therapeutic avenues for treating CNS disorders, we sought to determine whether administration of methamphetamine leads to alterations in the intestinal microbiota. In this study, the gut microbiota profiles of rats with methamphetamineinduced conditioned place preference (CPP) were analysed through 16S rRNA gene sequencing.The faecal microbial diversity was slightly higher in the METH CPP group. The propionateproducing genus Phascolarctobacterium was attenuated in the METH CPP group, and the family Ruminococcaceae was elevated in the METH CPP group. Short chain fatty acid analysis revealed that the concentrations of propionate were decreased in the faecal matter of METHadministered rats. These findings provide direct evidence that administration of METH causes gut dysbiosis, enable a better understanding of the function of gut microbiota in the process of drug abuse, and provide a new paradigm for addiction treatment.

The gut microbiome and inflammation in obsessive‐compulsive disorder patients compared to age‐ and sex‐matched controls: a pilot study

“…Odoribacter, Oscillospira and Anaerostipes also belong to the same taxonomic families. It was suggested that these gut microbiota are likely related to dopamine activity (40), as two studies in patients with Parkinson's disease (41,42) and another using a dopamine agonist in rats (43) revealed alterations of OTUs in the same family. Similarly, Quagliariello et al (2018) (8) reported that levels of Bacteroides , Odoribacter and Oscillospira were higher in the younger (ages 4–8 years vs. age 9) PANS group than in controls.…”

Gut Reactions: Breaking Down Xenobiotic–Microbiome Interactions

“…More recently, it has been demonstrated that similar bacterial species are affected by different and chemically diverse antipsychotics (Maier et al, 2018). Chronic alcohol abuse also alters gut microbiome composition (Leclercq et al, 2017), and other drugs of abuse possibly do the same, such as methamphetamine (Ning et al, 2017). More generally, substance use disorders are associated with reduced microbiota diversity (Xu et al, 2017).…”

Differential effects of synthetic psychoactive cathinones and amphetamine stimulants on the gut microbiome in mice

“…The reciprocal communication between the gut microbiome and the CNS is referred to as the gutbrain axis [24]. With regard to drugs of abuse, a small but growing literature is establishing roles for the gut microbiome in alcohol abuse and withdrawal [25,26], opioid tolerance [27,28], nicotine and smoking [29], cocaine reward [30], and in Meth-induced conditioned place preference [31]. Finally, it has been shown that patients with substance use disorders (SUDs) show changes in gut bacterial diversity [32].…”