![Sample our Bioscience journals, sign in here to start your access, Latest two full volumes FREE to you for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5925/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Bioscience.jpg"})
Abstract
Tongxie Yaofang (TXYF) has therapeutic effect on the ulcerative colitis (UC) with liver depression and spleen deficiency syndrome. This study investigated the changes in the gut microbiota of UC rats treated with TXYF. Wistar rats were divided into three groups: Control, dinitrobenzene sulfonic acid (DNBS)-colitis, and DNBS + TXYF (n = 8 per group). UC model was constructed via intrarectally injection of DNBS (25 mg DNBS and 0.25 mL 50% ethanol); rats in DNBS + TXYF group were administered with TXYF (20.8 g/kg) for 21 days. Physiological parameters were measured. Five samples from each group were selected for metagenomic analysis. TXYF treatment significantly reduced disease activity index, colon mucosal damage index, and tumor necrosis factor-alpha level. TXYF treatment prevented DNBS-induced dysregulation of gut microbial communities. Compared with DNBS-colitis group, the abundance of Firmicutes increased significantly and that of Bacteroidetes and Proteobacteria decreased in DNBS + TXYF group. Pathways such as protein processing in the endoplasmic reticulum pathway was enriched in the DNBS-colitis group, whereas it was decreased in the DNBS + TXYF group. Thus, TXYF treatment could effectively restore the dysregulation of intestinal flora induced by UC.
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by Key research and development projects in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region (grant number 2022BEG02834).
Author contributions
Conception and design of the research: RS, XZ; acquisition of data: ML, LF, YL; analysis and interpretation of data: YW, RS; statistical analysis: QZ; obtaining funding: XZ, YZ; drafting the manuscript: YW, RS; conducting experiments: YZ, LF, YL; revision of manuscript for important intellectual content: XZ. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Ethics approval and consent to participate
All animal care and experimental procedures were performed according to the National Institute of Health Guides for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals and approved by the Ethics Committee of the Gansu University of Chinese Medicine.
Data availability statement
The metagenomics sequencing data are uploaded to NCBI BioProject (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/bioproject/) with the accession number PRJNA801003. The data that support the findings of pathological indices are available in 4TU.ResearchData at doi:10.4121/18319907 (https://figshare.com/s/09475f78c42ddbbc2d03).