Multi-omics analysis of gut microbiota and metabolites in rats with irritable bowel syndrome

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a common gastrointestinal dysfunctional disease.However, the pathophysiology of IBS is largely unknown. The goal of this study wasto determine if fecal metabolite and microbiota profiles can serve as biomarkers ofIBS, and to uncover possible gut microbe–metabolite associations. By using a gaschromatography coupled to time-of-flight mass spectrometer (GC-TOFMS) and 16SrDNA amplicon sequencing, we measured fecal metabolites and microbiota of thecontrol and water‑avoidance stress (WAS) induced IBS rats. We found a significantlydifferential metabolite profile between the IBS and the control groups; a cluster ofdifferential metabolites were also found to be significantly associated with the amountof defecations. However, characteristics of gut microbiota could not distinguish IBSgroup from control group. By correlating metabolite levels with abundances ofmicrobial genera, the results showed no significant association between the controland the IBS rats. This study provides a global perspective on metabolomics andmicrobiota profiling in WAS-induced IBS model and a theoretical basis for theresearch of pathophysiology of IBS.