Effect of acupuncture on intestinal flora in rats with stress gastric ulcer

Abstract

To observe the effect of acupuncture at "Baihui" (GV 20), "Zhongwan" (CV 12) and "Zusanli" (ST 36) on intestinal flora in rats with stress gastric ulcer (SGU) , and to explore the mechanism of acupuncture promoting SGU recovery. Thirty-one SPF SD rats were randomly divided into a control group (7 rats), a model control group (8 rats), an acupuncture group (8 rats) and a medication group (8 rats). The rats in the model group, acupuncture group and medication group were selected to applied the improved restraint water-immersion stress method to establish the SGU model. After modeling, the rats in the control group and model group were fixed and restrained for 20 min every day for a total of 5 days; the rats in the acupuncture group were intervented with acupuncture at "Baihui" (GV 20), "Zhongwan" (CV 12) and "Zusanli" (ST 36), once a day, 20 min each time, and twisting needle for 30 s every 5 min for a total of 5 days; the rats in the medication group were gavaged by solution of omeprazole enteric-coated tablet (200 mg/mL), 2 mL for each rat, once a day. Guth method was used to calculate the gastric mucosal damage index (GMDI), HE staining was used to observe the pathological changes of gastric mucosa, and 16SrDNA identification was used to detect the structural abundance of intestinal flora. Compared with the control group, the GMDI of rats in the model group was increased (P<0.01), the gastric mucosal pathological changes were significant, and the intestinal flora richness index Chao1, Observed species and diversity index Shannon were all decreased (P<0.05), the diversity index Simpson was increased (P<0.05). Compared with the model group, the GMDI of rats in the acupuncture group and medication group was reduced (P<0.01, P<0.05), the gastric mucosal damage degree was reduced, and the intestinal flora richness index Chao1, Observed species and diversity index Shannon were all increased (P<0.05) and the diversity index Simpson decreased (P<0.05). Compared with the medication group, the GMDI of rats in the acupuncture group was reduced (P<0.01), the recovery of gastric mucosal injury was better than that of the medication group. Acupuncture can effectively improve gastric mucosal injury of SGU, and the mechanism may be related to increasing the diversity of intestinal flora and promoting the correction of the disordered intestinal flora.