IMR Press / JIN / Volume 22 / Issue 2 / DOI: 10.31083/j.jin2202028
Open Access Original Research
Electroacupuncture Improves Depression-Like Behavior by Regulating the Abundance of Lactobacillus and Staphylococci in Mice
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1 School of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Southern Medical University, 510515 Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
2 Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, 510515 Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
*Correspondence: nanfanglihuang@163.com (Yong Huang); luuuuuna@163.com (Zhinan Zhang)
These authors contributed equally.
J. Integr. Neurosci. 2023, 22(2), 28; https://doi.org/10.31083/j.jin2202028
Submitted: 23 May 2022 | Revised: 17 August 2022 | Accepted: 17 August 2022 | Published: 10 February 2023
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Depression Research)
Copyright: © 2023 The Author(s). Published by IMR Press.
This is an open access article under the CC BY 4.0 license.
Abstract

Background: Growing evidence suggests that gut microbiota can affect depression-like behavior, and electroacupuncture (EA) can regulate the composition and abundance of gut microbiota. At the same time, not a lot of research has been done on how EA affects gut microbiota to depression-like behavior. The objective of this study was to study the associated mechanisms by which EA exerts antidepressant effects by modulating gut microbiota. Methods: Twenty-four C57BL/6 male mice were randomly divided into three groups, one group (n = 8) was the normal control group (NC). And the other two groups was chronic unpredictable mild stress for modeling + electroacupuncture group (CUMS + EA) (n = 8) and chronic unpredictable mild stress for modeling group (CUMS) (n = 8). Both CUMS and EA groups were subjected to 28 days of CUMS, but only the EA group received an additional 14 days of EA procedure. Behavior tests were used to determine the antidepressant effect of EA. Sequencing of the 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene was applied to examine alterations in the intestinal microbiome between groups. Results: The findings were compared to those of the NC group, the sucrose preference rate and the total distance of Open Field Test (OFT) in CUMS group decreased, the abundance of Lactobacillus decreased, while the abundance of staphylococci increased. After the intervention of EA, the sucrose preference index and the total distance of OFT increased, the abundance of Lactobacillus increased, while the abundance of staphylococci decreased. Conclusions: These findings indicated EA may play an antidepressant effect by adjusting the abundance of Lactobacillus and staphylococci.

Keywords
electroacupuncture
depression gut microbiota
Lactobacillus
staphylococci
Funding
81873359/National Natural Science Foundation of China
82074519/National Natural Science Foundation of China
2022A1515011658/Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province
2018Z023/President Foundation of Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University
Figures
Fig. 1.
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