Total Flavone of Abelmoschus manihot Ameliorates Stress-Induced Microbial Alterations Drive Intestinal Barrier Injury in DSS Colitis

Abstract

Purpose

Total flavone of Abelmoschus manihot (TFA), the effective constituents extracted from Flos Abelmoschus Manihot, has been reported to inhibit inflammation. However, the effect of TFA on ulcerative colitis (UC) progression in patients with depression is unknown. The purpose of our research was to explore the anti-UC effects of TFA in the context of depression in mice with UC by regulating the gut microbiota to drive the intestinal barrier.

Methods

In this study, chronic stress (CS) and dextran sodium sulfate (DSS) were used to induce depression and UC, respectively, in C57BL/6J mice. Fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) was used to evaluate how treating mice modeling UC and depression with TFA effected their gut microbiota.

Results

Our results showed that TFA effectively improved UC aggravated by CS. In addition, TFA treatment improved the depression-like phenotype, the disturbed gut microbiota, and the intestinal barrier function in CS mice. It is worth noting that FMT from the CS mice to the receptor group further aggravated the damage of the intestinal barrier and the disturbance of the gut microbiota in the recipient DSS mice, thus further aggravating UC, however, treatment of the intervention of TFA in the CS fecal microbiota transplant with TFA also played its therapeutic outcome.

Conclusion

Taken together, our results show that CS disrupts the gut microbiota, triggers intestinal barrier injury and aggravates DSS colitis, while TFA is a promising drug for the treatment of UC in patients with depression.

Graphical Abstract

Keywords:

• total flavone of Abelmoschus manihot
• ulcerative colitis
• depression
• gut microbiota
• intestinal barrier

Abbreviations

CS, chronic stress; CK, control check; DSS, dextran sodium sulfate; FMT, fecal microbiota transplantation; TFA, total flavone of Abelmoschus manihot; IBD, inflammatory bowel disease; CD, Crohn’s disease; UC, ulcerative colitis; OFT, open-field test; TST, tail suspension test; FST, forced swimming test; DAI, disease activity index; PCoA, principal coordinate analysis.

Data Sharing Statement

The data used to support the findings of this study are available from the Yu-gen Chen upon request.

Disclosure

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 81873309), the Top academic talents of Jiangsu Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine (No. y2018rc06) and the Key Talents Training Program of Chinese Medicine in Jiangsu Province (No. SLJ0203). This study was also supported by Graduate student scientific research innovation projects in Jiangsu Province (No. SJCX20_0509).