Temporal and region-specific effects of sleep fragmentation on gut microbiota and intestinal morphology in Sprague Dawley rats

Abstract

Sleep is a fundamental biological process, that when repeatedly disrupted, can result in severe health consequences. Recent studies suggest that both sleep fragmentation (SF) and dysbiosis of the gut microbiome can lead to metabolic disorders, though the underlying mechanisms are largely unclear. To better understand the consequences of SF, we investigated the effects of acute (6 days) and chronic (6 weeks) SF on rats by examining taxonomic profiles of microbiota in the distal ileum, cecum and proximal colon, as well as assessing structural and functional integrity of the gastrointestinal barrier. We further assayed the impact of SF on a host function by evaluating inflammation and immune response. Both acute and chronic SF induced microbial dysbiosis, more dramatically in the distal ileum (compared to other two regions studied), as noted by significant perturbations in alpha-and beta-diversity; though, specific microbial populations were significantly altered throughout each of the three regions. Furthermore, chronic SF resulted in increased crypt depth in the distal ileum and an increase in the number of villi lining both the cecum and proximal colon. Additional changes were noted with chronic SF, including: decreased microbial adhesion and penetration in the distal ileum and cecum, elevation in serum levels of the cytokine KC/GRO, and depressed levels of corticotropin. Importantly, our data show that perturbations to microbial ecology and intestinal morphology intensify in response to prolonged SF and these changes are habitat specific. Together, these results reveal consequences to gut microbiota homeostasis and host response following acute and chronic SF in rats.

Metabolomics and microbiome profiling as biomarkers in obstructive sleep apnoea: a comprehensive review

“…Similar microbial changes are observed in sleep fragmentation models at the phylum level; these include increased abundance of species in the Ruminococcaceae family and decreased abundance of species in the Lactobacillaceae family [39,40]. POROYKO et al [39] reported that 4 weeks of sleep fragmentation led to inflammation of the mesenteric adipose tissue in mice, suggesting that microbial translocation and invasion elicited a bacteria-derived inflammatory load.…”

“…POROYKO et al [39] reported that 4 weeks of sleep fragmentation led to inflammation of the mesenteric adipose tissue in mice, suggesting that microbial translocation and invasion elicited a bacteria-derived inflammatory load. However, TRIPLETT et al [40] reported that the abundance of intestinal bacteria was significantly changed by prolonged sleep fragmentation, but intestinal permeability and inflammation did not occur. There were differences in sleep fragmentation between these two studies, in terms of the frequency of awakening, which may affect the extent of pathology.…”

Diversity and Predicted Function of Gut Microbes from Two Species of Viviparid Snails

“…Diet, geography, season, and disease have been shown to cause variation in-and potential disruption of-a host's gut flora (Colman et al 2012;King et al 2012;Tang et al 2019). Gut microbes also are subject to spatial and temporal differences throughout the host lifecycle (Llewellyn et al 2016;Triplett et al 2020). Three planorbid snail species exhibited significant differences in gut microbial diversity and abundance at both the individual and species levels (Van Horn et al 2012).…”

Sleep, circadian rhythm and gut microbiota: alterations in Alzheimer’s disease and their potential links in the pathogenesis

“…Sleep disturbance and GM alterationsGM alterations in human and animal models caused by sleep disturbance or related to sleep quality are presented in Table3(top)[71][72][73][74] and Table3(bottom),[75][76][77][78][79][80] respectively. To date, only a few studies explored the effects of sleep impacting on GM in humans, restricting their focus on the association between specific bacterial taxa and sleep quality based on Pittsburgh sleep quality index (PSQI) or sleep physiology.…”