SEARCHOTHERpreclinical research, biomedical research

other·preclinical research, biomedical research, obstetrics and gynecology, psychiatry·PMC10117386

The effects of chronic unpredicted mild stress on maternal negative emotions and gut microbiota and metabolites in pregnant rats

PeerJ · 10 authors, 4 centres

AI SUMMARY

FIDELITY 100%

This summary was generated by AI from a single paper. It has not been reviewed by a clinician and is not clinical advice. Verify against the source before acting on it.

AGENT 01 · STRUCTURED SUMMARY

TRACE TO SOURCE

“

TL;DR

Pregnant Sprague-Dawley rats were randomized to a CUMS group receiving one of nine stressors daily for 21 days or to an unstressed control group.

Full summary

752 CHARS

Pregnant Sprague-Dawley rats were randomized to a CUMS group receiving one of nine stressors daily for 21 days or to an unstressed control group. Behavior was assessed via sucrose preference test and open-field test; plasma corticosterone was measured by radioimmunoassay; gut microbiota was characterized by 16S rRNA gene sequencing and metabolites by GC-MS. Gut microbiota alpha diversity was significantly reduced in the stress group. At the family level, Ruminococcaceae abundance decreased (23.45% vs 32.67%) and Prevotellaceae increased (10.45% vs 0.03%) in stressed versus control rats (P < 0.05). PCA-PLS-DA revealed complete separation of metabolic profiles between groups, with seven endogenous metabolites differing significantly (P < 0.05).

STUDY TYPE

other

SPECIALTY

preclinical research

SUMMARISED BY

AI pipeline

FIDELITY CHECK

100% · A

ORIGINAL PAPER

PMC10117386

The effects of chronic unpredicted mild stress on maternal negative emotions and gut microbiota and metabolites in pregnant rats

PeerJ

READ THE FULL PAPER

ABSTRACT

Background Chronic long-term stress is associated with a range of disorders, including depression and a variety of other chronic illnesses. It is well known that maternal exposure to psychosocial stress during pregnancy significantly increases the likelihood of adverse pregnancy outcomes. The gut microbiota has been a popular topic, it is a key mediator of the gut-brain axis and plays an important role in human health; changes in the gut microbiota have been related to chronic stress-induced health impairment, however, the relationship between maternal negative emotions and abnormal gut microbiota and its metabolites during maternal exposure to chronic stress during pregnancy remains unclear. Methods Pregnant rats were subjected to chronic unpredicted mild stress (CUMS) to establish the rat model of chronic stress during pregnancy. The behavioral changes were recorded using sucrose preference test (SPT) and open-field test (OFT), plasma corticosterone levels were determined by radioimmunoassay, and a comprehensive method combining 16S rRNA gene sequencing and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) metabolomics was used to study the effects of stress during pregnancy on the function of intestinal microbiota and its metabolites. Results Chronic stress during pregnancy not only increased maternal plasma corticosterone ( P < 0.05), but also caused maternal depression-like behaviors ( P < 0.05). Chronic stress during pregnancy changed the species composition at the family level of maternal gut microbiota, the species abundance of Ruminococcaceae in the stress group (23.45%) was lower than the control group (32.67%) and the species abundance of Prevotellaceae in the stress group (10.45%) was higher than the control group (0.03%) ( P < 0.05). Vertical locomotion and 1% sucrose preference percentage in pregnant rats were negatively correlated with Prevotellaceae ( r = − 0.90, P < 0.05). Principal component analysis with partial least squares discriminant analysis showed that the integration points of metabolic components in the stress and control groups were completely separated, indicating that there were significant differences in the metabolic patterns of the two groups, and there were seven endogenous metabolites that differed ( P < 0.05). Conclusions The negative emotional behaviors that occur in pregnant rats as a result of prenatal chronic stress may be associated with alterations in the gut microbiota and its metabolites. These findings provide a basis for future targeted metabolomics and gut flora studies on the effects of chronic stress during pregnancy on gut flora.

CITATION EXPORT

Rui Wang, Feng Zhao, Ye Li et al.. The effects of chronic unpredicted mild stress on maternal negative emotions and gut microbiota and metabolites in pregnant rats. PeerJ. (2023). https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.15113

AUTHORS

10 · 4 CENTRES

Rui Wang, Feng Zhao, Ye Li, Jiashu Zhu, Yifei Liu, Jiaqi Li, Guixiang Yao, Hongya Liu, Suzhen Guan, Shuqin Ma

1Ningxia Medical University, Ningxia, People’s Republic of China
2Key Laboratory of Environmental Factors and Chronic Disease Control, Ningxia, People’s Republic of China
3Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, People’s Republic of China
4General hospital of Ningxia Medical University, Ningxia, People’s Republic of China

EDITOR / REVIEWER

Gwyn Gould