We previously showed that the Chinese herbal medicine, Shaofu Zhuyu decoction (SFZYD), shrank the size of endometriotic lesions in rats with endometriosis. We therefore conducted the present study to investigate the effects of letrozole and SFZYD on gut microbiota in endometriotic rats. Rats were divided into four groups: a blank group, model group, letrozole group, and SFZY group. Ectopic lesion size and COX-2 expression in the endometrium and endometriotic lesions were compared, and the community of gut microbiota was detected using 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Both letrozole and SFZYD reduced the size of ectopic lesions as well as lowered the expression of COX-2, thus reducing the inflammatory response. Compared with the blank group, the α-diversity of gut microbiota in endometriotic rats decreased, the Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes ratio increased, and the abundance of Ruminococcaceae was reduced. The α-diversity of gut microbiota in the letrozole group was similar to that in the model group, but the Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes ratio was diminished. The α-diversity in the SFZY group was similar to that in the blank group, the Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes ratio was attenuated, and the abundance of Ruminococcaceae was elevated compared with the model group. These results indicated that the therapeutic mechanisms of both letrozole and SFZYD were related to the restoration of gut microbiota.

Background: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), one of the most common endocrine diseases in women of childbearing age, has been found to be accompanied by changes in the gut microbiota. The Bu Shen Yang Xue formula (BSYXF) is a traditional Chinese medicine widely used for the treatment of PCOS. This study aimed to investigate whether the protective effects of β-sitosterol, the main active ingredient of BSYXF, on PCOS was mediated by regulating gut microbiota.Methods: The presence of β-sitosterol in BSYXF was detected by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. The PCOS-like mouse model was induced by dehydroepiandrosterone. The fecal supernatant of β-sitosterol-treated mice was prepared for fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT). Body weight and wet weight of the uterus and ovary of the mice were recorded for organ index calculation. Hematoxylin and eosin stain was used to assess the endometrial morphology and microenvironment changes. Expression of endometrial receptivity markers cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), Integrin ανβ3, leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF), and homeobox A10 (HOXA10) in the endometrium were determined by immunohistochemistry and western blot analysis. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was employed to detect the expression of follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), luteinizing hormone (LH), progesterone (P), and testosterone (T) in the serum. The diversity of gut microbiota was examined by 16S rDNA gene sequencing.Results: With the treatment of β-sitosterol and β-sitosterol-FMT, the uterine index of PCOS-like mice increased, the ovarian index decreased, levels of COX-2, LH and T decreased, and levels of Integrin ανβ3, LIF, HOXA10, FSH, and P increased. Under β-sitosterol treatment, the structure of the gut microbiota in PCOS-like mice was also changed.Conclusion: β-sitosterol regulates the endometrial receptivity of PCOS and harmonizes the sex hormone balance, which may be related to the changes in the structure and composition of gut microbiota, thus affecting the pathological process of PCOS.

The floodplain ecosystem plays an important role in the mediation or regulation of regional ecological functions, and is the heart of ecosystem functions based on soil microbial communities. In the present study, we investigate the patterns and assembly processes of soil microbial communities along nine profile depths (up to 280 cm in depth) of three stages of floodplain community succession (channel bar, newly deposited river beach and tender floodplain) and farmland in the floodplain of the lower Yellow River. Generally, the bacterial community in agricultural soil had the highest diversity, whereas the archaeal community in the tender floodplain had the highest diversity. Compared to bacteria, the co‐occurrence network of archaea was more complex and stable and had high connectivity. Our data suggest that the resistance of bacteria and archaea to environmental changes in deep soil was higher when compared to that in surface soil. Furthermore, stochastic and deterministic processes acted concurrently to regulate the assembly of the soil microbial community in the floodplain ecosystems. However, the relative contributions of the stochastic process and deterministic process are different between the bacterial community and the archaeal community. The lowest contribution of the stochastic process in the bacterial community was in the subsoil, whereas in the archaeal community, it was the opposite. For ecological selection, bacterial communities in different soil profiles, in the succession stages and in the farmland, were mainly selected through homogeneous selection, whereas archaeal communities were selected through heterogeneous selection. Compared with the three floodplain succession stages, the microbial communities of agricultural lands were more assembled by deterministic processes.Highlights Stochastic and deterministic processes act concurrently to regulate the assembly of soil microbial community in the floodplain ecosystems. The assembly of the bacterial community was mainly affected by the homogeneous selection. The archaeal community was mainly affected by the heterogeneous selection. The microbial communities of agricultural lands were more assembled by deterministic processes.

The purpose of this study was to explore the positive effects of Bu Shen Huo Xue Decoction (BSHXF) on assisted reproduction. The study aimed to evaluate whether BSHXD could improve endometrial morphology and increase the expression of LIF in a gonadotrophin-releasing hormone agonists (GnRHa) long protocol-induced rat model during metestrus, diestrus, proestrus, and oestrus. The BSHXD group presented significantly increased endometrium thickness and decreased MVD compared with the GnRHa long protocol group. In addition, the expression of LIF was significantly higher in the BSHXD group. There were no significant differences between the control group and the BSHXD group in terms of MVD and LIF expression. These results suggested that BSHXD can improve the endometrium development, reduce the abnormal angiogenesis, and increase the expression of receptivity markers in a GnRHa long protocol-induced rat model during the oestrous cycle, which might result in an endometrial environment better suited for female reproduction.