服用北柴胡对抑郁症小鼠肠道菌群多样性的影响

Effects of Bupleurum chinense on the diversity of intestinal flora in depressed mice

柴胡为许多抗抑郁复方制剂中的君药,已被证明能够治疗抑郁症小鼠,但对肠道菌群的作用尚不明确。该研究的目的在于探讨北柴胡对抑郁症模型小鼠行为学及肠道菌群多样性的影响。使用社会挫败应激方法建立抑郁症小鼠模型,将C57BL/6J雄性小鼠与CD-1小鼠接触,从而使CD-1小鼠攻击C57BL/6J雄性小鼠建立抑郁症模型,将应激后的C57BL/6J雄性小鼠分为抑郁症组与北柴胡组,分别灌胃生理盐水与北柴胡。在实验过程中进行糖水偏爱测试,并且在实验结束后进行悬尾测试分析北柴胡对抑郁症小鼠行为的影响,并取小鼠粪便,使用Ion S5TMXL测序平台对各组小鼠的肠道细菌16S rDNA V3-V4区域基因片段进行测序,对肠道菌群可操作分类单元(operational taxonomic units, OTUs)数量,alpha与beta多样性以及差异菌门与菌属进行综合分析及评价,探究服用北柴胡对抑郁症小鼠肠道菌群的影响。结果表明,北柴胡能够降低小鼠抑郁样行为,增加小鼠糖水偏好率,降低悬尾不动时间。在使用北柴胡后,在门水平中显著降低抑郁症小鼠模型肠道菌群中Firmicutes的丰度,升高Bacteroidetes的丰度,在属水平中,Lactobacillus、Lachnoclostridium等菌属的相对丰度显著降低(P<0.05),而Bacteroides、Alistipes等菌属相对丰度显著上升(P<0.05)。该研究结果证明了北柴胡能够调节抑郁症小鼠的肠道菌群进而改善抑郁症小鼠的抑郁样行为。

Bupleuri Radix, serving as the sovereign medicinal in many antidepressant compound preparations, has been proved effective in treating depression in mice, but its effect on the intestinal flora remains unclear. The present study aimed to investigate the effects of Bupleurum chinense(one of the original materials of Bupleuri Radix) on the behaviors and the diversity of intestinal flora of depressed mice. A depression mouse model was induced by repeated social defeat stress. Specifically, C57 BL/6 J male mice were exposed to the attack from the CD-1 mice. Then, C57 BL/6 J male mice were divided into a depression group and a B. chinense group, with normal saline and B. chinense administered(ig) respectively. Sucrose preference test and tail suspension test were conducted during and after the experiment respectively, to analyze the effects of B. chinense on the behaviors of the depressed mice. The feces were collected after the experiment. The V3-V4 16 S rDNA regions of intestinal flora of mice in each group were sequenced by Ion S5 TMXL for the analysis of the number of operational taxonomic units(OTUs), richness, alpha and beta diversity indexes, and differential phyla and genera. The results indicated that B. chinense could decrease depressive-like behaviors of mice, increase sucrose preference, and shorten the time of immobility in tail suspension test. After B. chinense intervention, the relative abundance of Firmicutes was significantly decreased, while that of Bacteroidetes was increased at the phylum level. At the genus level, the relative abundance of Lactobacillus and Lachnoclostridium decreased(P<0.05), while that of Bacteroides, Alistopes, etc. was elevated(P<0.05). The findings demonstrate that B. chinense can regulate the intestinal flora and improve the depressive-like behaviors of mice with depression.