Oolong Tea Polyphenols Ameliorate Circadian Rhythm of Intestinal Microbiome and Liver Clock Genes in Mouse Model

Our present study focused on the regulating effect of oolong tea polyphenols (OTPs) on the circadian rhythm of liver and intestinal microbiome. OTP significantly alleviated the disrupted diurnal oscillation and phase shift of the specific intestinal microbiota and liver clock genes in mice induced by constant dark (CD) treatment. Transcriptomics revealed that 1114 genes in the control group and 647 genes in the CD group showed circadian rhythm while 723 genes were rhythmic in the CD-OTP group. The Gene Ontology (GO) database provided significant differences in differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in response to OTP treatment. In addition, Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathways enriched the most DEGs after OTP intervention including “Focal adhesion” (9 DEGs) and “PI3K-Akt signaling pathway” (9 DEGs). The present study provided a global view that OTP may alleviate the circadian rhythm disorder of the host, contributing to the improvement of microecology and health.本研究聚焦于乌龙茶多酚（Oolong Tea Polyphenols，OTPs）对肝脏与肠道微生物组昼夜节律的调控作用。OTP可显著缓解持续黑暗（Constant Dark，CD）造模小鼠体内特定肠道菌群与肝脏时钟基因被扰乱的昼夜振荡与时相偏移现象。转录组学分析显示，对照组中共1114个基因、CD造模组中共647个基因呈现昼夜节律性表达，而CD-OTP干预组则有723个基因具有节律性。基因本体（Gene Ontology，GO）数据库分析表明，响应OTP处理的差异表达基因（Differentially Expressed Genes，DEGs）存在显著差异。此外，京都基因与基因组百科全书（Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes，KEGG）通路富集分析显示，OTP干预后差异表达基因富集程度最高的通路为黏着斑（Focal adhesion）与PI3K-Akt信号通路（PI3K-Akt signaling pathway），两类通路分别包含9个差异表达基因。本研究从全局视角揭示，OTP可缓解宿主昼夜节律紊乱，进而助力宿主微生态与机体健康水平的提升。