Does simulated microgravity induce significant changes in human gut microbiota? New answers with dry immersion, an innovative ground-based model.

Abstract Background A new problematic on the gut microbiota of the astronauts and the effects of microgravity emerged recently as that bacteria community is sensitive to physical (in)activity which could be hampered during spaceflights. Therefore, the objective of our study was thus to determine the effects of dry immersion, an innovative ground-based human model of simulated microgravity, on human gut microbiota composition. We collected stools from 14 healthy men before and after 5 days of Dry Immersion to determine taxonomic profiles by 16S metagenomic.Results Our analyses show preservation of α–diversity through Observed, Chao1, Shannon and InvSimpson indices. β–diversity is also not impacted by Dry Immersion as represented by PCoA plots with Jaccard, Bray-Curtis and UniFrac indices. Phyla abundances for OTUs associated to BacteroidetesP, FirmicutesP, ProteobacteriaP and ActinobacteriaP are also preserved. Interestingly, metagenomics analysis of the 32 families and 44 associated genera underscored that OTUs associated to ClostridialesO order and LachnospiraceaeF family are increased (p < 0.01) belonging to FirmicutesP phylum.Conclusion The diversity and global composition of the gut microbiome remained unaltered in response to Dry Immersion confirming the robustness of gut microbiota. However, it’s sufficient to led to several significant changes at the lower taxonomy levels. This suggests that the human gut microbiota, with its known strong impact on human health and performance, is a potential biological target of microgravity and underscores the need to investigate further this new field of research on gut microbiota – microgravity.Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier NCT03915457- Registered 16 April 2019 - Retrospectively registered - https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03915457.