Regulation of the intestinal dysbiosis of high – fat diet obese mice via gut microbia–TLR2 / 4 pathway by electroacupuncture

Abstract

Objective: We design experimental study to explore the impacts of electroacupuncture (EA) treatment on the interaction between TLR2 / 4 pathway and gut flora in high – fat diet obese mice. Methods: Reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction, western blotting and 16S rRNA pyrosequencing were to study the association among groups (normal (N), model (M), electroacupuncture for 7 d (A7), 14 d (A14), 21 d (A21) and 28 d (A28) group). Results: EA reduced the relative expression of TLR2 / 4 gene and protein, and regulated the significant difference species flora in different levels, such as Firmicutes and Actinobacteria in Phylum, Coriobacteriia in Class, Coriobacteriales in Order, Atopobiaceae in Family, and Oscillibacter, Intestinimonas, Lachniclostridium and Acetatifactor in Genus. In all acupuncture groups, the analytical data of A21 group was similar to normal mice. Conclusion: These findings suggested the interaction between TLR2/ 4 pathway and gut flora could be a novel target of EA treatment against obesity.