Project description:Abstract. Background: The cause of ulcerative colitis (UC) is not yet fully understood. Previous research has pointed towards a potential role for mutations in NOD2 in promoting the onset and progression of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) by altering the microbiota of the gut. However, the relationship between toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) and gut microbiota in IBD is not well understood. To shed light on this, the interaction between TLR4 and gut microbiota was studied using a mouse model of IBD. Methods: To examine the function of TLR4 signaling in intestinal injury repair, researchers developed Dextran Sulfate Sodium Salt (DSS)-induced colitis and injury models in both wild-type (WT) mice and TLR4 knockout (TLR4-KO) mice. To assess changes in the gut microbiota, 16S rRNA sequencing was conducted on fecal samples from both the TLR4-KO and WT enteritis mouse models. Results: The data obtained depicted a protective function of TLR4 against DSS-induced colitis. The gut microbiota composition was found to vary considerably between the WT and TLR4-KO mice groups as indicated by β-diversity analysis and operational taxonomic units (OTUs) cluster. Statistical analysis of microbial multivariate variables depicted an elevated abundance of Escherichia coli/Shigella, Gammaproteobacteria, Tenerlcutes, Deferribacteres, Enterobacteria, Rikenellaceae, and Proteobacteria in the gut microbiota of TLR4-KO mice, whereas there was a considerable reduction in Bacteroidetes at five different levels of the phylogenetic hierarchy including phylum, class, order, family, and genus in comparison with the WT control. Conclusion: TLR4 may protect intestinal epithelial cells from damage in response to DSS-induced injury by controlling the microbiota in the gut.
Project description:We previously reported that gut microbiota induce de novo DNA methylation of the TLR4 gene in intestinal epithelial cells. Since DNA methyltransferase (DNMT) 3 mediates the transfer of methyl groups to any gene undergoing de novo methylation, the question of how gut microbiota induce the recruitment of DNMT3 to specific genes, including TLR4, remains to be addressed. In this study, we tried to identify an adaptor molecule that recruits DNMT3b to the TLR4 gene by comparing expression of DNMT3-interacting proteins between IEC lines with hypermethylated and hypomethylated TLR4 gene.
Project description:Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) is a disorder of the gut-brain axis, characterized by altered gut function and frequent psychiatric co-morbidity. Although altered intestinal microbiome profiles have been documented, their relevance to the clinical expression of IBS is unknown. To evaluate a functional role of the microbiota, we colonized germ-free mice with fecal microbiota from healthy controls or IBS patients with accompanying anxiety, and monitored gut function and behavior. Mouse microbiota profiles clustered according to their human donors. Despite having taxonomically similar composition as controls, mice with IBS microbiota had distinct serum metabolomic profiles related to neuro- and immunomodulation. Mice with IBS, but not control microbiota, exhibited faster gastrointestinal transit, intestinal barrier dysfunction, innate immune activation and anxiety-like behavior. These results support the notion that the microbiota contributes to both intestinal and behavioral manifestations of IBS and rationalize the use of microbiota-directed therapies in ameliorating IBS.
Project description:Acquisition of the intestinal microbiota begins at birth, and a stable microbial community develops from a succession of key organisms. Disruption of the microbiota during maturation by low-dose antibiotic exposure can alter host metabolism and adiposity. We now show that low-dose penicillin (LDP), delivered from birth, induces metabolic alterations and affects ileal expression of genes involved in immunity. LDP that is limited to early life transiently perturbs the microbiota, which is sufficient to induce sustained effects on body composition, indicating that microbiota interactions in infancy may be critical determinants of long-term host metabolic effects. In addition, LDP enhances the effect of high-fat diet induced obesity. The growth promotion phenotype is transferrable to germ-free hosts by LDP-selected microbiota, showing that the altered microbiota, not antibiotics per se, play a causal role. These studies characterize important variables in early-life microbe-host metabolic interaction and identify several taxa consistently linked with metabolic alterations. Male and female mice were exposed to low-dose penicillin from birth. In a second experiment, microbiota from female control and LDP mice was transferred to 3-week old female germ-free mice. Livers were collected at 8 weeks of age, RNA was extracted, and transcriptional differences were measured by RNAseq.
Project description:Gut dysbiosis and host genetics are implicated as causative factors in inflammatory bowel disease, yet mechanistic insights are lacking. Longitudinal analysis of ulcerative colitis patients following total colectomy with ileal anal anastomosis (IPAA) where >50% develop pouchitis, offers a unique setting to examine cause vs. effect. To recapitulate human IPAA, we employed a mouse model of surgically-created blind self-filling (SFL) and self-emptying (SEL) ileal loops. SFL exhibit fecal stasis due to directional peristalsis motility oriented towards away from the loop end, whereas SEL remain empty. In wild type mice, SFL, but not SEL, develop pouch-like microbial communities without accompanying active inflammation. However, in genetically susceptible IL-10-/- deficient mice, SFL, but not SEL, exhibit severe inflammation and mucosal transcriptomes resembling human pouchitis. Germ-free IL10-/- mice conventionalized with wild type SFL, but not SEL, microbiota, develop severe colitis. These data demonstrate an essential role for fecal stasis, gut dysbiosis, and genetic susceptibility and offer insights into human pouchitis and ulcerative colitis. All animal protocols were approved by IACUC at the University of Chicago. All animals were C57Bl/6 mice that were bred and housed under standard 12:12 light/dark conditions at the University of Chicago. Female mice aged 6-8 weeks were fed ad libitum gel diet 76A (Cat# 72-07-5022, Clear H20, Portland, ME) for 5-days prior to surgery to prevent obstruction at the anastomosis. Animals were anesthetized with ketamine/xylazine. Aseptic surgery was performed to resect 2.5cm of ileum 3cm proximal to the ileal-cecal value with anastomosis to the ileum using 8-0 suture (Figure 1a). The abdominal wall was closed with interrupted 4-0 silk suture and skin was closed with staples. Analgesics (betanorphine mg/kg BW) were provided post-operatively. After 5 weeks, mice were humanely euthanized. Intestinal loops were collected for RNA, protein, and histology. Loop, sham ileum, and sham colon contents were collected and snap frozen at −80°C for microbiota analysis. Human biopsies and stool samples were obtained under IRB approval and privacy protocols were followed. Our initial work demonstrated up regulation of TLR4 signaling in the mucosa of self-filling ileal loops. We hypothesized that TLR4 may be in-part responsible for mediating the metaplasia and inflammatory responses observed. Therefore, TLR4 KO mice were used to test this hypothesis and subsequently demonstrated attenuated responses in these parameters.
Project description:Toll like receptor 4 (TLR4), an innate immunity gene, is involved in responses to several pulmonary agonists including endotoxin (LPS; Poltorak et al.,1998), ozone (O3 ,Kleeberger et. al., 2001), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (Faure et al, 2004), and hyperoxia (Zhang et al, 2005). TLR4 appears to partially mediate the response to LPS- and O3-induced lung injury, however, TLR4 is protective for prevention of injury in Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection and against acute lung injury (hyperoxia). The mechanism behind this protection is unclear. We previously demonstrated that TLR4 was also protective against BHT-induced chronic inflammation and tumor promotion (Bauer et al, 2005). C.C3H-Tlr4Lps-d (BALBLps-d) mice, congenic for a 10 cM region of C3H/HeJ chromosome 4 that contains Tlr4 (Vogel et al, 1994), have a missence mutation that renders TLR4 dysfunctional. The Tlr4 mutation likely abrogates signaling by disrupting a direct point of contact with other signaling molecules (Akira S, Takeda K. Toll-like receptor signalling. Nat Rev Immunol 2004;4(7):499-511.). Bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) alveolar macrophages, lymphocytes, and total protein content were significantly elevated in BALBLps-d mice compared to BALB/c (BALB; Tlr4 sufficient) mice following chronic BHT (Bauer et al., 2005). BALBLps-d mice also had a significant increase in tumor multiplicity (60%) over that of BALB mice in response to an MCA/BHT tumor promotion protocol. While this was the first model to demonstrate a protective role for TLR4 in chronic lung inflammation and tumorigenesis, the downstream mechanism regulating this protective response remains unknown. Using Affymetrix microarray analysis followed by GeneSpring and Ingenuity pathway analyses, we herein identified known and novel downstream pathways and their interactions that may be involved in the protective mechanism elicited by TLR4. We therefore hypothesize that these pathways and interactions amongst the genes identified during the tumor promotion/chronic inflammation stage are in part influencing the differential strain response observed during tumorigenesis. Keywords: time course, tumor study Protocol 1 - 3 biological replicates after chronic dosing in each mouse strain Protocol 2 - multiple replicates after MCA/BHT tumor progression model used
Project description:Acquisition of the intestinal microbiota begins at birth, and a stable microbial community develops from a succession of key organisms. Disruption of the microbiota during maturation by low-dose antibiotic exposure can alter host metabolism and adiposity. We now show that low-dose penicillin (LDP), delivered from birth, induces metabolic alterations and affects ileal expression of genes involved in immunity. LDP that is limited to early life transiently perturbs the microbiota, which is sufficient to induce sustained effects on body composition, indicating that microbiota interactions in infancy may be critical determinants of long-term host metabolic effects. In addition, LDP enhances the effect of high-fat diet induced obesity. The growth promotion phenotype is transferrable to germ-free hosts by LDP-selected microbiota, showing that the altered microbiota, not antibiotics per se, play a causal role. These studies characterize important variables in early-life microbe-host metabolic interaction and identify several taxa consistently linked with metabolic alterations. C57BL6J mice received low-dose penicillin through their drinking water (6.7 mg/L), control mice did not receive antibiotics. All mice were started on normal chow (13.5% fat kcal). At 17 weeks of age, half of the mice were switched to high fat diet (45% fat kcal). Livers were collected at age 30 weeks, RNA was extracted, and transcriptional differences were measured by microarray analysis.
Project description:Acquisition of the intestinal microbiota begins at birth, and a stable microbial community develops from a succession of key organisms. Disruption of the microbiota during maturation by low-dose antibiotic exposure can alter host metabolism and adiposity. We now show that low-dose penicillin (LDP), delivered from birth, induces metabolic alterations and affects ileal expression of genes involved in immunity. LDP that is limited to early life transiently perturbs the microbiota, which is sufficient to induce sustained effects on body composition, indicating that microbiota interactions in infancy may be critical determinants of long-term host metabolic effects. In addition, LDP enhances the effect of high-fat diet induced obesity. The growth promotion phenotype is transferrable to germ-free hosts by LDP-selected microbiota, showing that the altered microbiota, not antibiotics per se, play a causal role. These studies characterize important variables in early-life microbe-host metabolic interaction and identify several taxa consistently linked with metabolic alterations. Male mice were exposed to low-dose penicillin (6.7 mg/L), from birth. Ileums were collected at 8 weeks of age, RNA was extracted, and transcriptional differences were measured by microarray analysis.