Abstract
Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), a chronic metabolic disease which severely impairs peoples’ quality of life, currently attracted worldwide concerns. There are growing evidences that gut microbiota can exert a great impact on the development of T2DM. Xiexin Tang (XXT), a traditional Chinese medicine prescription, has been clinically used to treat diabetes for thousands of years. However, few researches are investigated on the modulation of gut microbiota community by XXT which will be very helpful to unravel how it works. In this study, bacterial communities were analyzed based on high-throughput 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Results indicated that XXT could notably shape the gut microbiota. T2DM rats treated with XXT exhibited obvious changes in the composition of the gut microbiota, especially for some short chain fatty acids producing and anti-inflammatory bacteria such as Adlercreutzia, Alloprevotella, Barnesiella, [Eubacterium] Ventriosum group, Blautia, Lachnospiraceae UCG-001, Papillibacter and Prevotellaceae NK3B31 group. Additionally, XXT could also significantly ameliorate hyperglycemia, lipid metabolism dysfunction and inflammation in T2DM rats. Moreover, the correlation analysis illustrated that the key microbiota had a close relationship with the T2DM related indexes. The results probably provided useful information for further investigation on its active mechanism and clinical application.
Highlights
Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), a chronic metabolic disease characterized by hyperglycemia as a result of insufficient insulin secretion, insulin action or both[1], is estimated that its numbers in the adults will increase by 55% by 20352
Whether the gut microbiota was a therapeutic target of Xiexin Tang (XXT) during improvement of T2DM symptoms, the effects of XXT on the gut microbial community in T2DM rats were investigated and key genera closely related to XXT treatment were identified by high-throughput 16S rRNA gene sequencing technology in this paper
The results indicated that T2DM rats had notably higher serum concentrations of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), total cholesterol (TC) and triglycerides (TG), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-6 (IL-6), C-reactive protein (CRP) and resistin compared to normal rats
Summary
T2DM, a chronic metabolic disease characterized by hyperglycemia as a result of insufficient insulin secretion, insulin action or both[1], is estimated that its numbers in the adults will increase by 55% by 20352. Many effective hypoglycemic agents like α-glucosidase inhibitor, insulin secretagogue, insulin sensitizer and intestinal lipase inhibitor have been developed for the treatment of T2DM4–6 These drugs, which can effectively reduce the level of blood glucose, have a series of adverse effects and complications such as hypoglycemia, gastrointestinal discomfort and pulmonary edema, etc[7,8]. Xiexin Tang (XXT) originating from the Medical Treasures of the Golden Chamber written by Zhang Zhongjing is a compound recipe with heat-clearing and detoxication This classic prescription composed of Dahuang (Rhei rhizome), Huangqin (Scutellaria radix) and Huanglian (Coptidis rhizome), which has some potentially beneficial effects such as anti-inflammation[12], anti-apoptosis[13], neuron protection[14], anti-oxidation[15] and immunomodulation[16], is clinically used to treat constipation, high fever, restlessness and insomnia. The correlation analysis between gut flora and T2DM-related metabolic factors was carried out to explore the possible mechanism of XXT in improving T2DM
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