Gut Microbiome Alterations In Ulcerative Colitis And After Moxibustion Intervention

Abstract Background: Recent studies have shown that the pathogenesis of ulcerative colitis (UC) is closely related to the gut microbiota. Moxibustion, a common treatment in traditional Chinese medicine, is the burning of the herb moxa over acupuncture points. Moxibustion has been used to improve the inflammation and gastrointestinal dysfunctions in gastrointestinal disorders such as UC. In this study, we investigated whether moxibustion could improve the gut microbial dysbiosis induced by dextran sulphate sodium (DSS).Methods: Twenty-five male rats were randomly assigned into five groups: normal (NG), UC model (UC), moxibustion (UC+MOX), mesalazine (UC+MES), and normal rats with moxibustion (NG+MOX). The UC rat model was established by administering DSS solution. The rats in the UC+MOX and NG+MOX groups were treated with moxibustion at Tianshu (bilateral, ST25) points once daily for 7 consecutive days, and the UC+MES group rats were treated with mesalazine once daily for 7 consecutive days. After intervention, gut microbiota profiling was conducted by metagenomic high throughput sequencing technology. The gut microbiota composition, diversity and function were analyzed and compared using metagenomics methodologies.Results: The most abundant phyla of five groups were Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes, Proteobacteria and Actinobacteria. Moxibustion treatment increased abundance levels of Bacteroidetes, Actinobacteria, Ascomycota, Synergistetes and decreased abundance of Firmicutes, Proteobacteria. At the genus level, the abundance of Bacteroides, Bacteroides_bacterium_M7, Prevotella, Bacteroidales_bacterium_H2, were increased and Bacteroides_bacterium_H3, Parabacteroides, Porphyromonas, Alistipes, Parasutterella were decreased in the UC group in comparsion with those in the NG group. Moxibustion increased the abundance of Bacteroides and Bacteroides_bacterium_H3 and decreased Bacteroides_bacterium_M7, Prevotella, Bacteroidales_bacterium_H2. In addition, compare with the NG group, genes involved in certain metabolic pathways, such as energy production and conversion, amino acid transport and metabolism, nucleotide transport and metabolism, carbohydrate transport and metabolism, replication, recombination and repair, were under-represented in the UC group, and these changes in the metabolic pathways could be reversed by moxibustion treatment and mesalazine treatment.Conclusion: Our findings suggest that moxibustion treatment may protect the host from mucosal inflammation by modulating the intestinal microbiota community.