Dataset Information

The effect of age on the intestinal mucus thickness, microbiota composition and immunity in relation to sex in mice.

ABSTRACT: A mucus layer covers and protects the intestinal epithelial cells from direct contact with microbes. This mucus layer not only prevents inflammation but also plays an essential role in microbiota colonization, indicating the complex interplay between mucus composition-microbiota and intestinal health. However, it is unknown whether the mucus layer is influenced by age or sex and whether this contributes to reported differences in intestinal diseases in males and females or with ageing. Therefore, in this study we investigated the effect of age on mucus thickness, intestinal microbiota composition and immune composition in relation to sex. The ageing induced shrinkage of the colonic mucus layer was associated with bacterial penetration and direct contact of bacteria with the epithelium in both sexes. Additionally, several genes involved in the biosynthesis of mucus were downregulated in old mice, especially in males, and this was accompanied by a decrease in abundances of various Lactobacillus species and unclassified Clostridiales type IV and XIV and increase in abundance of the potential pathobiont Bacteroides vulgatus. The changes in mucus and microbiota in old mice were associated with enhanced activation of the immune system as illustrated by a higher percentage of effector T cells in old mice. Our data contribute to a better understanding of the interplay between mucus-microbiota-and immune responses and ultimately may lead to more tailored design of strategies to modulate mucus production in targeted groups.

SUBMITTER: Elderman M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5595324 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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The effect of age on the intestinal mucus thickness, microbiota composition and immunity in relation to sex in mice.

Elderman Marlies M Sovran Bruno B Hugenholtz Floor F Graversen Katrine K Huijskes Myrte M Houtsma Eva E Belzer Clara C Boekschoten Mark M de Vos Paul P Dekker Jan J Wells Jerry J Faas Marijke M

PloS one 20170912 9

A mucus layer covers and protects the intestinal epithelial cells from direct contact with microbes. This mucus layer not only prevents inflammation but also plays an essential role in microbiota colonization, indicating the complex interplay between mucus composition-microbiota and intestinal health. However, it is unknown whether the mucus layer is influenced by age or sex and whether this contributes to reported differences in intestinal diseases in males and females or with ageing. Therefore ...[more]

PMID: 28898292

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Project description:Sex hormone secretion difference is one of the main reasons for sexually dimorphic traits in animals, which affects the dimorphism of the intestinal microbiota; however, their interaction is still unknown. Intestinal mucosa-associated microbiota (MAM) and intestinal luminal content microbiota (LM) belong to two different habitats according to the difference in interactions between bacteria and host intestinal epithelium/nutrients. To clarify the sexually dimorphic characteristics of MAM and LM and their correlation with sex hormones, 12 specific pathogen-free (SPF) Kunming mice from the same nest were fed separately according to sex. After 8 weeks, samples from the male intestinal mucosa group (MM group), the female intestinal mucosa group (FM group), the male intestinal content group (MC group), and the female intestinal content group (FC group) were collected and then, the next-generation sequencing of 16S ribosomal ribonucleic acid (rRNA) gene was performed. Our results showed that the sexual dimorphism of MAM was more obvious than that of LM and the relative abundance of Muribaculaceae, Turicibacter, and Parasutterella was significantly higher in the FM group than in the MM group (p < 0.001, p < 0.05, p < 0.05). Next, we measured the level of serum sex hormones in mice and calculated the correlation coefficient between major bacteria and sex hormones. The results showed that the correlation between MAM and sex hormones was more prominent, and finally, three bacterial genera (Muribaculaceae, Turicibacter, and Parasutterella) were obtained, which could better represent the relationship between sexual dimorphism and sex hormones. The abundance of Parasutterella is positively and negatively correlated with estradiol and testosterone (T), respectively, which may be related to the differences in the metabolism of bile acid and glucose. A decrease in the abundance of Turicibacter is closely related to autism. Our results show that the abundance of Turicibacter is negatively and positively correlated with T and estradiol, respectively, which can provide a hint for the prevalence of male autism. In conclusion, it is proposed in our study that intestinal microbiota is probably the biological basis of physiological and pathological differences due to sex, and intestinal MAM can better represent the sexual dimorphism of mice.

Dataset Information

The effect of age on the intestinal mucus thickness, microbiota composition and immunity in relation to sex in mice.

Publications

The effect of age on the intestinal mucus thickness, microbiota composition and immunity in relation to sex in mice.

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