Altered fecal microbiota composition in the Flinders sensitive line rat model of depression.

ABSTRACT:

Rationale

The gut microbiota is increasingly recognized as a potential mediator of psychiatric diseases. Depressed patients have been shown to have a different microbiota composition compared with healthy controls, and several lines of research now aim to restore this dysbiosis. To develop novel treatments, preclinical models may provide novel mechanistic insights.

Objective and methods

We characterized the gut microbiota of male adult Flinders sensitive line (FSL) rats, an animal model of depression, and their controls, Flinders resistant line (FRL) rats using 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing. Moreover, we performed fecal microbiota transplantation (using saline or pooled FRL/FSL feces) to study if the potential strain-specific differences could be transferred from one strain t

SUBMITTER: Tillmann S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6599185 | biostudies-literature | 2019 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature