Original articles

The effect of intestinal flora on catch-up growth of small for gestational age detected by high throughput sequencing of 16S rRNA gene in rats and its possible mechanism

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  • Department of Pediatrics, Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200025, China

Received date: 2020-02-28

  Online published: 2022-07-15

Abstract

Objective: To explore the effect of intestinal flora on catch-up growth in the rats of small for gestational age (SGA) and study the possible mechanism on catch-up growth (CUG) mediated by intestinal flora. Methods: SGA model was established by half dietary restriction during the pregnancy in female rats. A total of 54 baby rats were collected and were divided into two groups at the 4th week according to whether the rats achieved CUG or not: non-catch-up growth SGA (NCUG-SGA) group and CUG-SGA group. The serum insulin-like growth factor-1(IGF-1) in baby rats were measured with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), the fecal intestinal flora was investigated by Illumina sequencing of 16S rRNA gene amplicons, and the level of fecal short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) and was tested by gas chromatography-mass spectrometer(GC-MS), respectively. The difference in composition of the intestinal flora, the level of fecal SCFA and serum IGF-1 were compared between 2 groups. Results: The level of IGF-1 in CUG-SGA group was significantly higher than the NCUG-SGA group[(250.41±85.66) μg/L vs(112.29±32.26) μg/L, P<0.05] in baby rats. Simpson's diversity index for intestinal flora in CUG-SGA group was markedly higher than NCUG-SGA group. The level of fecal SCFA in CUG group was higher than NCUG group(P<0.05). SCFAs were correlated with relative abundance of 11 types of differentially expressed bacteria genus in CUG-SGA group(|r|>0.6, P<0.05). Meanwhile,the levels of propionate, butyrate,isobutyrate and valerate were positively correlated with body weight and length as well as the serum level of IGF-1 in CUG-SGA rats. Conclusions: Intestinal flora exerts an effect on CUG in SGA rats. It may be achieved through regulating energy metabolism and absorption by SCFA,which produced by intestinal flora metabolism in the body.

Cite this article

AN Jingjing, WANG Junqi, XIAO Yuan, LU Wenli, LI Lin, WANG Wei, DONG Zhiya . The effect of intestinal flora on catch-up growth of small for gestational age detected by high throughput sequencing of 16S rRNA gene in rats and its possible mechanism[J]. Journal of Diagnostics Concepts & Practice, 2020 , 19(04) : 375 -380 . DOI: 10.16150/j.1671-2870.2020.04.010

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