Music-based interventions in the feeding environment on the gut microbiota of mice

Abstract

Gut microbiota is established to be associated with the diversity of gastrointestinal conditions, but information on the variation associated with music and gut microbes is limited. Current study revealed the impacts of music intervention during feeding on the growth performance and gut microbes of mice by using clinical symptoms and 16S rRNA sequencing techniques. The results showed that feeding mice with music had a significant increase in body weight after the 25th day. The Firmicutes and Proteobacteria were the most dominant phylum in the gut microbiota. Also, the relative abundance of the dominant bacteria was variable after musical intervention. In contrast to the control group, a significant decrease in alpha diversity analysis of gut bacterial microorganisms and Metastats analysis showed a significant increase in the relative abundance of 5 genera and one phylum after the music intervention. Moreover, the musical intervention during feeding caused modifications in the gut microbial composition of mice, as evidenced by an increase in the level of Firmicutes and Lactobacillus, while decreases the richness of pathogenic bacteria, e.g. Proteobacteria, Cyanobacteria and Muribaculaceae, etc. In summary, music intervention increased body weight and enhanced the abundance of beneficial bacteria by reducing the prevalence of pathogenic bacteria in gut microbiota of mice.

Effects of Music and White Noise Exposure on the Gut Microbiota, Oxidative Stress, and Immune-Related Gene Expression of Mice

“…The β diversity showed a large overlap between each group, indicating that the sound treatment could influence the composition of GM, but was not intensive enough to change the entire landscape of it. Niu et al also found this phenomenon in a study on the effect of music interference while feeding mice [ 60 ].…”

“…Verrucomicrobia is not in the dominant bacteria list of the study [ 31 ]. This implies that the response of different compositions of GM has a different response pattern to noise depending on the dominant bacteria, and Firmicutes is important in this process since the concurrence of change in the relative abundance of Firmicutes and the noise treatment have been observed in many studies [ 31 , 48 , 59 , 60 ]. Gut Firmicutes could influence host nutrition and metabolism through SCFA synthesis [ 61 ] and could interact with the intestinal mucosa, thereby contributing to gastrointestinal homeostasis [ 62 ].…”