Abstract
Purpose :
The microbiota consists of 10 to 100 trillion symbiotic microbial cells, primarily bacteria in the gut, harbored by the host. The gut microbiota is altered strongly by a Western style diet. Recent studies have shown that commensal microbiota secrete various metabolites that can exert important effects on the host immunity, controls inflammation and alters cellular biological functions. However, little is known regarding the effect of microbiome on corneal wound healing, inflammation and corneal epithelial progenitor cells. The purpose of this study is to describe the effect of diet-induced gut dysbiosis on corneal wound healing and epithelial function.
Methods :
This study is approved by the Animal Care and Use of the University of Illinois at Chicago. Eleven-week-old female C57BL6 mice were fed on a normal chow diet (ND), isocaloric low fat control diet (13% calories from fat, CD), or a 21% milk fat diet (simulating a Western Style diet containing 42% calories from fat, WD) for six weeks. Corneal epithelial debridement using a 2mm punch and Algerbrush were performed once per week for three consecutive weeks on mice on different diets (n=10). Cecal samples from mice were used for microbial diversity analysis using 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing. Cecal transplantation was performed from ND to WD mice. SYBR Green quantitative PCR was used to analyze gene expression in mice epithelium.
Results :
Western style diet induced significant changes in average mice weight in eleven-week-old female mice (19.6 g in ND vs. 25.0 g in WD, p < 0.01). Mice fed WD had a significant alteration in gut microbial composition and beta diversity in comparison to mice fed ND. After a 2 mm corneal epithelial debridement, wound closure was significantly prolonged in WD mice (After 24 hours percent wound closure was 79% in ND vs. 64% in WD after the first debridement, p<0.01). Two of the ten mice on WD also developed persistent epithelial defects after the first debridement. Significant changes were found in pro-inflammatory cytokines, including IL8, IL1b, TNFa).
Conclusions :
Gut dysbiosis induced by a Western style diet lead to increased inflammation and prolonged wound healing. Probiotic supplementation can be explored in the future as a strategy in promoting corneal wound healing.
This is a 2020 ARVO Annual Meeting abstract.