The changes of gut microbiome in an acute vestibular deficits mouse model

Previous studies on vestibular deficits comorbid with anxiety mainly focus on the neuroanatomical connection of vestibular neuclei and the other brain region. Since microbiota-gut- brain axis involved in regulation of the brain activity, we hypothesized that it may participate in the modulation of vestibular deficits and anxiety comorbidity. Whether vestibular dysfunction elicit gut microbiome alteration or not is unknown. The structural and functional characterization changes of gut microbiome in vestibular dysfunction patients has not been investigated yet. This is a pilot study, in which we for the first time used multi-omics approaches to investigate the effect of vestibular lesion on gut microbiome and metabolic profiles in a unilateral labyrinthectomy mouse model.

既往针对共患焦虑症的前庭功能缺损的研究，主要聚焦于前庭神经核与其他脑区的神经解剖关联。鉴于微生物群-肠-脑轴（microbiota-gut-brain axis）参与大脑活动的调控，我们推测其可能参与前庭缺损与焦虑共病的调节过程。目前尚不明确前庭功能障碍是否会引发肠道菌群改变，且前庭功能障碍患者肠道菌群的结构与功能特征变化尚未被研究。本研究为一项预实验，我们首次采用多组学方法，在单侧迷路切除小鼠模型中探究前庭损伤对肠道菌群及代谢谱的影响。