ZiBuPiYin recipe improves cognitive decline by regulating gut microbiota in Zucker diabetic fatty rats

// Chunyan Gu 1,* , Wen Zhou 2,* , Wang Wang 1 , Hong Xiang 3 , Huiying Xu 2 , Lina Liang 4 , Hua Sui 4 , Libin Zhan 2,3 and Xiaoguang Lu 5 1 School of Medicine and Life Science, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China 2 Basic Medical College, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China 3 The Second Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical University, Dalian, Liaoning, China 4 Institute of Integrative Medicine, Dalian Medical University, Dalian, Liaoning, China 5 Department of Emergency Medicine, Zhongshan Hospital, Dalian University, Dalian, Liaoning, China * These authors have contributed equally to this work Correspondence to: Libin Zhan, email: // Xiaoguang Lu, email: // Keywords : ZiBuPiYin recipe, diabetes, psychological-stress, cognitive decline, gut microbiota, Pathology Section Received : September 02, 2016 Accepted : January 04, 2017 Published : January 12, 2017 Abstract Numerous researches supported that microbiota can influence behavior and modulate cognitive function through “microbiota-gut-brain” axis. Our previous study has demonstrated that ZiBuPiYin recipe (ZBPYR) possesses excellent pharmacological effects against diabetes-associated cognitive decline. To elucidate the role of ZBPYR in regulating the balance of gut microbiota to improve psychological-stress-induced diabetes-associated cognitive decline (PSDACD), we compared blood glucose, behavioral and cognitive functions and diversity of the bacterial community among experimental groups. The Zucker diabetic fatty (ZDF) rats with PSDACD exhibited behavioral and cognitive anomalies showing as increased anxiety- and depression-like behaviors and decreased learning and memory abilities. High-throughput sequencing of the bacterial 16S rRNA gene revealed that Roseburia and Coprococcus were decreased in ZDF rats with PSDACD compared with control group. Notably, these changes were reversed by ZBPYR treatment. Our findings indicate that ZBPYR might prevent PSDACD by maintaining the compositions of gut microbiota, which could be developed as a new therapy for T2D with PSDACD.