In this longitudinal study, we studied the effects of DHT (high testosterone)and ovariectomy (OVX) (no estrogen) both alone and in combination on the female mouse gut microbiome. OvexPlusDHT 16S

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is the most common endocrine disorder affecting 6-10% of women world-wide. It is characterized by reproductive, metabolic, and endocrine abnormalities such as anovulation, hyperandrogenism and polycystic ovaries. Metabolic phenotypes associated with PCOS include obesity, insulin resistance and hyperinsulinemia. Studies have suggested that PCOS is linked to shifts in gut bacteria diversity in women and in both letrozole-induced and dihydrotestosterone (DHT)-induced mouse models of PCOS. In this longitudinal study, we studied the effects of DHT (high testosterone)and ovariectomy (OVX) (no estrogen) both alone and in combination on the female mouse gut microbiome. There were observed changes in the gut microbiome over time in this study. The individual effects of DHT and Ovariectomy did not correlate with significant changes in abundance of the gut microbiome over time as seen in alpha diversity. However, the combination of the two did see a significant change in abundance over time for alpha diversity. Random forest was utilized for feature extraction to determine the top fifty bacteria for classification of treatment groups. The top fifty bacteria were dominated by the Bacteroidetes Phylum followed by Firmicutes and then Deferribacteres. For beta diversity, our analysis then looked at the top fifty bacteria individually using a linear mixed-effects model to determine significant bacteria based on treatment. It was observed that well known families of bacteria showed significance in our study including S24-7, Rikenelleceae and Lachnospiraceae. Our study also identified M. schaedleri as a significant bacteria based on treatment. This species is of interest because no other PCOS studies have identified this species as significant. This bacteria could be a potential treatment option for PCOS with further investigation.