1.Liver injuries and alterations of gut microbiota in intrahepatic cholestasis in pregnancy of rats
Liuyuan He ; Bin Zhang ; Heping Zhang ; Jilong Shen ; Yuanhong Xu ; Xuhang Shen
Acta Universitatis Medicinalis Anhui 2023;58(5):824-829
Objective:
To investigate the effects of hepatobiliary metabolie dysfunction on gut microbiota in rats with intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy (ICP).
Methods:
Forty Sprauge-Dawley(SD) rats at 10 days of gestation were randomly divided into two groups,25 for ICP induction and 15 as control. Estradiol benzoate, combined with progesterone, was given to the rats by intraperitoneal injjection from 10 to 14 days after gestation. Hepatic impairment indicators of total bilirubin(TBIL), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST),-glutamyl
transferase ( GGT), alkaline phosphatase(AL.P), and total bile acids (TBA) in sera of the animals were detected in each group to verify the model construction. Simultaneously, the liver tissues were subjected to pathology examination and fresh faeces samples were collected for 16S rDNA sequencing to explore the gut microbiota profiles.
Results:
The serum levels of TBIL,ALT,AST,GGT,ALP and TBA in ICP group were significantly elevated compared with the control (P<0. 05 );the ICP rats presented obvious characteristics of hepatobiliary disorders, showing prominent steatosis, necrosis of hepatocytes and infiltration of inflammatory cells, with formation of bile thrombus in some animals. The abundance of Eubacterium, Bacteroides, Parabacteroides distasonis and Bacteroides uniformis remarkably decreased wereas Prevotela and Fusobacterium significantly increased in ICP rats when compared with the control (P<0.05).
Conclusion
The hepatic injuries and bile acid metabolic disorders occurred in ICP rats,which resulted in dysbiosis of gut microbiota.