Diabetes, Metabolic Syndrome and Obesity (Jan 2021)
Characteristics of Gut Microbiota in Cerulein-Induced Chronic Pancreatitis
Abstract
Chunhua Wu,1 Mengmeng Li,2 Wenji Chen1 1Department of General Practice, Zhongda Hospital, Medical School, Southeast University, Nanjing 210009, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Ophthalmology, Xuzhou First People’s Hospital, Xuzhou 221000, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Wenji Chen Email [email protected]: Although clinical trials and animal models have evaluated the alterations of the microbiome in chronic pancreatitis (CP), the gut microbiota composition and diversity in cerulein-induced CP is unknown. This study aimed to evaluate the changes of gut microbiota in a CP mice model, and to determine whether these gut microbiota changes were consistent with those in patients with CP.Methods: A total of ten male C57BL/6j mice were randomly divided into two groups. The experimental group were injected intraperitoneally with cerulein, while the normal control group received comparable injections of saline, the entire molding process lasted 6 weeks. Histology analysis was used to assess pancreatic morphological changes and fibrosis, meanwhile the gut microbiota composition and diversity were analyzed by high throughput sequencing. Spearman correlation analysis was used to determine whether body weight and weight changes were associated with changes in gut microbial abundance.Results: The bacterial richness and diversity of CP mice decreased, and the gut microbiota changed, including lower levels of Firmicutes, decreased Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes ratio and increased abundance of Bacteroidetes, Actinobacteria and Verrucomicrobia. We found statistically significant differences in body weight and weight changes between the two groups. However, there was no significant correlation between alterations of gut microbiota and in body weight and weight changes.Conclusion: Our results showed that the gut microbiota in cerulein-induced CP was changed.Keywords: chronic pancreatitis, cerulein, gut microbiota, body weight, weight changes
