Research Paper Volume 12, Issue 17 pp 17436—17458
Jinmaitong ameliorates diabetic peripheral neuropathy in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats by modulating gut microbiota and neuregulin 1
- 1 Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Peking Union Medical College, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing, China
- 2 Medical Research Center, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Peking Union Medical College, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing, China
Received: December 3, 2019 Accepted: July 6, 2020 Published: September 13, 2020
https://doi.org/10.18632/aging.103750How to Cite
Abstract
Jinmaitong (JMT), a compound prescription of traditional Chinese medicine, has long been used as a therapy for diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN). However, the neuroprotective mechanisms of JMT and its effect on gut microbiota remained unknown. Here, we examined the effects of JMT on behavior, pathomorphology and gut microbiota in streptozotocin (STZ)-induced DPN rats. Compared to distilled water administration, JMT reversed decreases in mechanical withdraw threshold and intraepidermal nerve fiber density, improved neurological morphology of sciatic nerves, increased serum neuregulin 1 (NRG1) level and contactin-associated protein (Caspr)-positive paranodes, and decreased amyloid precursor protein (APP) accumulation in DPN rats. More importantly, JMT enriched nine species of the gut microbiota of DPN rats, helping to prevent dysbiosis. Among these species, p_Actinobacteria, p_Proteobacteria and c_Actinobacteria were negatively correlated with DPN phenotypes and positively correlated with serum NRG1 level. These results indicate that JMT may exert a neuroprotective effect by modulating phenotype-associated gut microbiota and increasing serum NRG1 level in STZ-induced DPN rats. JMT may therefore be an effective complementary and alternative anti-DPN therapy.
Abbreviations
T2DM: Type 2 diabetes mellitus; DPN: Diabetic peripheral neuropathy; NTP: Neurotropin®; JMT: Jinmaitong; TCM: Traditional Chinese medicine; UPLC-QTOF-MS: Ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry; PUMCH: Peking union medical college hospital; STZ: Streptozocin; NIH: National institutes of health; LEfSe: Linear discriminant analysis coupled with effect size; MWT: Mechanical withdraw threshold; PBS: Phosphate buffered saline; PFA: Paraformaldehyde; ELISA: Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay; NRG1: Neuregulin 1; HE: Hematoxylin and eosin; TEM: Transmission electron microscope; Caspr: Contactin-associated protein; APP: Amyloid precursor protein; βIII-tubulin: Beta Tubulin 3; IENFD: Intraepidermal nerve fiber density; PGP 9.5: Protein gene product 9.5.; MBP: Myelin basic protein; P0: Myelin protein zero; MAG: Myelin-associated glycoprotein; IGF-1: Insulin-like growth factor 1.