Journal Article

Changes in gut microbiota composition with age and correlations with gut inflammation in rats

Meng, Chen, Hao, Zikai, Feng, Siyuan, Liu, Hong, Dong, Chen

2022

Overview

Increasing evidences indicate that gut microbiota composition is associated with multiple inflammatory diseases. However, little is known about how gut microbiota changes with age and correlations with gut inflammation at sexual maturity stage of healthy individuals. Elucidating the dynamic changes of gut microbiota in healthy individuals at the sexual maturity stage and correlations with gut inflammation can provide clues for early risk assessment of gut diseases at the sexual maturity stage. Here, the shift in gut bacteria and its relationship with gut inflammation at the sexual maturity stage were explored. Sprague–Dawley rats at the sexual maturity stage were used in this study. 16S rRNA gene sequencing was performed to decipher gut bacteria shifts from the 7th week to the 9th week, and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to measure gut inflammation and gut barrier permeability. We found an increase in bacterial richness with age and a decrease in bacterial diversity with age. The gut bacteria were primarily dominated by the phyla Firmicutes and Bacteroides and the genus Prevotella . The relative abundance of Firmicutes increased with age, and the relative abundance of Bacteroides decreased with age. There was a positive correlation between body weight and the Firmicutes : Bacteroides ratio. More and more gut microbiota participated in the host gut inflammation and barrier permeability regulation with age. Ruminococcus was the only gut bacteria participated in gut inflammation and barrier permeability regulation both in the 7th week and the 15th week. These results provide a better understanding of the relationship between gut bacteria and gut inflammation in sexually mature rats and show that Ruminococcus may be a potential indicator for early risk assessment of gut inflammation.

• Publisher: Public Library of Science,Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subject: Abundance / Age / Age groups / Animal models in research / Animals / Bacteria / Bacteria - genetics / Bacteroides / Bacteroides - genetics / Biology / Biology and Life Sciences / Biotechnology / Body weight / Composition / Correlation / Demographic aspects / Disease / Engineering / Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay / Evaluation / Feces / Firmicutes / Firmicutes - genetics / Gastrointestinal Microbiome / Gene sequencing / Gut microbiota / Health aspects / Health risks / Inflammation / Inflammatory diseases / Intestinal microflora / Laboratory animals / Maturity / Medicine and Health Sciences / Microbiota / Microbiota (Symbiotic organisms) / Permeability / Physical Sciences / Rats / Rats, Sprague-Dawley / Relative abundance / Risk assessment / Risk factors / RNA, Ribosomal, 16S - genetics / rRNA 16S / Ruminococcus / Ruminococcus - genetics / Sexual maturity / Taxonomy / Thermal cycling / Veganism