Chronic alcohol exposure induced gut microbiota dysbiosis and its correlations with neuropsychic behaviors and brain BDNF/Gabra1 changes in mice

Abstract Alcohol addiction can cause brain dysfunction and many other diseases. Recently, increasing evidences have suggested that gut microbiota plays a vital role in regulating alcohol addiction. However, the exact mechanism has not yet been elucidated. Here, our study focused on the intestinal bacteria alternations and their correlations with alcohol‐induced neuropsychic behaviors. When consuming alcohol over 3‐week period, animals gradually displayed anxiety/depression‐like behaviors. Moreover, 16S rRNA sequencing showed significant intestinal microflora dysbiosis and distinct community composition. Actinobacteria and Cyanobacteria were both increased at the phylum level. At the genus level, Adlercreutzia spp ., Allobaculum spp ., and Turicibacter spp . were increased whereas Helicobacter spp . was decreased. We also found that the distances in inner zone measured by open field test and 4% (v/v) alcohol preference percentages were significantly correlated with Adlercreutzia spp . The possible mechanisms were explored and we found the expression of brain‐derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and α1 subunit of γ‐aminobutyric acid A receptor (Gabra1) were both decreased in prefrontal cortex (PFC). Especially, further correlation analyses demonstrated that decreased Adlercreutzia spp . was positively correlated with alcohol preference and negatively correlated with anxiety‐like behavior and BDNF/Gabra1 changes in PFC. Similar relationships were observed between Allobaculum spp . and alcohol preference and BDNF changes. Helicobacter spp . and Turicibacter spp . were also correlated with PFC BDNF and hippocampus Gabra1 level. Taken together, our study showed that gut microbiota dysbiosis during chronic alcohol exposure was closely correlated with alcohol‐induced neuropsychic behaviors and BDNF/Gabra1 expression, which provides a new perspective for understanding underlying mechanisms in alcohol addiction. © 2018 BioFactors, 45(2):187–199, 2019