High-throughput 16S rRNA gene sequencing reveals that 6-hydroxydopamine affects gut microbial environment

Recently, there has been a rapid increase in studies on the relationship between brain diseases and gut microbiota, and clinical evidence on gut microbial changes in Parkinson's disease (PD) has accumulated. 6-Hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) is a widely used neurotoxin that leads to PD pathogenesis, but whether 6-OHDA affects gut microbial environment has not been investigated. Here we performed the 16S rRNA gene sequencing to analyze the gut microbial community of mice. We found that there were no significant changes in species richness and its diversity in the 6-OHDA-lesioned mice. The relative abundance of Lactobacillus gasseri and L. reuteri probiotic species in feces of 6-OHDA-lesioned mice was significantly decreased compared with those of sham-operated mice, while the commensal bacterium Bacteroides acidifaciens in 6-OHDA-treated mice was remarkably higher than sham-operated mice. These results provide a baseline for understanding the microbial communities of 6-OHDA-induced PD model to investigate the role of gut microbiota in the pathogenesis of PD.近年来，脑部疾病与肠道菌群（gut microbiota）之间关联的研究呈快速增长态势，关于帕金森病（Parkinson's disease, PD）患者肠道菌群变化的临床证据也不断积累。6-羟基多巴胺（6-Hydroxydopamine, 6-OHDA）是一种广泛应用的可诱发帕金森病发病的神经毒素，但6-OHDA是否会影响肠道菌群环境尚未得到研究。本研究通过16S rRNA基因测序技术分析小鼠的肠道菌群群落，结果显示：6-OHDA致损小鼠的物种丰富度及菌群多样性均未出现显著变化；与假手术组小鼠相比，6-OHDA致损小鼠粪便中的加氏乳杆菌（Lactobacillus gasseri）与罗伊氏乳杆菌（Lactobacillus reuteri, L. reuteri）这两种益生菌的相对丰度显著降低，而6-OHDA处理组小鼠体内的嗜酸拟杆菌（Bacteroides acidifaciens）这一共生菌的相对丰度则显著高于假手术组。本研究结果为解析6-OHDA诱导的帕金森病模型的菌群群落提供了基准，可为进一步探究肠道菌群在帕金森病发病机制中的作用奠定基础。