Resveratrol improves a murine model of asthma through alterations in the gut microbiome

Abstract

Abstract Asthma is a condition characterized by bronchial spasms, inflammation, and mucous hypersecretion which leads to difficulties in respiration. Asthmatic patients are usually presented with recurrent attacks of coughing, wheezing, and shortness of breath which could be life-threatening. More than three million cases of asthma in the United States are diagnosed annually. Resveratrol, a polyphenolic stilbene, is known to be useful in controlling asthmatic attacks via different molecular mechanisms within the lung epithelium and infiltrating immune cells. However, few studies mentioned the effect of resveratrol on the microbiome in ovalbumin-induced asthma mouse model. In this study, we induce asthma in BALB/c mice by injecting ovalbumin (OVA) with aluminum hydroxide intraperitoneally followed by 7 days treatment with resveratrol (100mg/kg) by oral gavage. Intranasal ovalbumin was given on day 8 to induce asthma followed by 7 more days of treatment with resveratrol. We performed 16S rRNA microbial analysis on cecal flushes between disease and treatment groups, noting changes in microbial diversity among disease and treated groups. Specifically, we identified alterations in gut microbial composition, which included significantly higher levels of Prevotella in the disease groups, which was reduced upon treatment with resveratrol. In addition, Bacteroides acidifaciens species were significantly lower in the asthma-induced mice and significantly increased in resveratrol treated. Supported in part by NIH grants P01AT003961, R01AT006888, R01ES019313, R01MH094755, P20GM103641, MoHESR and R01AI129788