Acupuncture Regulating Gut Microbiota in Abdominal Obese Rats Induced by High-Fat Diet

Abstract

Objective. To investigate the effects of acupuncture on metabolic health and gut microbiota dysbiosis in diet-induced abdominal obese model. Materials and Methods. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly distributed into normal chow diet (NCD) group and high-fat diet (HFD) group. After 12 weeks of HFD feeding, an abdominal obese rat model was established. The abdominal obese rats were further assigned to acupuncture group (n=7) and nontreated HFD group (n=7). Acupuncture was applied to bilateral GB 26 of rats for 8 weeks. Subsequently, the body weight, waist circumference (WC), visceral fat mass, and liver weight were measured weekly in all rats. Metabolic parameters such as total cholesterol, triglyceride, alanine aminotransferase, aspartate transaminase, and blood glucose were measured by an automatic biochemical analyzer. The serum levels of insulin (INS) were determined using Rat INS ELISA Kit. Analysis of gut microbiota was carried out by 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Results. Acupuncture decreased the body weight, WC, and visceral adipose tissues of HFD-induced abdominal obese rats. In addition, insulin sensitivity, glucose homeostasis, and lipid metabolism were improved by this treatment. Furthermore, electroacupuncture effectively modified the composition of gut microbiota, mainly via decreasing Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes ratio and increasing Prevotella_9 abundance. Conclusions. Electroacupuncture can ameliorate abdominal obesity and prevent metabolic disorders in HFD-induced abdominal obese rats, via the modulation of gut microbiota.

Pro-inflammatory effect of obesity on rats with burn wounds

“…The HFD feed was processed by the Animal Experimental Center of the Army Military Medical University. The HFD feed formula was: 60% of basic feed, 10% of lard (cooked), 5% of sucrose, 5% of whole milk powder, 8% of peanut, 10% of egg, and 2% of salt ( Chandler et al., 2005 ; Wang et al, 2019 ). The weight of the rats was monitored and recorded weekly.…”

“…The weight of the rats was monitored and recorded weekly. The criteria for selecting overweight and obese rats was to select HFD group rats who increased their body weight by 10% or 20%, respectively, compared to the average weight of the regular diet group ( Chandler et al., 2005 ; Wang et al, 2019 ). In our study, we selected 60 obese rats and 60 overweight rats.…”

Comparison of Effects and Brain-Gut Regulatory Mechanisms of Acupuncture and Flunarizine for Migraine: Study Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial

“…Our previous studies have confirmed that acupuncture treatment has a good effect on relieving migraine attacks and digestive symptoms [ 33 , 34 ]. There is evidence that acupuncture can regulate gut microbiota disorders and improve the diversity and richness of bacteria species in the gut [ 35 , 36 ]. Several lines of research on the use of acupuncture and flunarizine for migraine have shown that flunarizine has a good effect in reducing pain intensity and improving quality of life, and in addition to the effects mentioned above, acupuncture can effectively reduce the number of migraine days and regulate psychological state [ 37 , 38 ].…”

Figure 1: Study design.

“…The HFD feed was processed by the Animal Experimental Center of the Army Military Medical University. The HFD feed formula was: 60% of basic feed, 10% of lard (cooked), 5% of sucrose, 5% of whole milk powder, 8% of peanut, 10% of egg, and 2% of salt (Chandler et al, 2005;Wang et al, 2019). The weight of the rats was monitored and recorded weekly.…”