Effect of Dihuang Yinzi on Inflammatory Response in Cerebral Ischemia-Reperfusion Model Rats by Regulating Gut Microbiota

Dihuang Yinzi, as a classical Chinese medicine prescription, plays an important role for the treatment of ischemic stroke. Gut microbiota play a functional role for the expression of proinflammatory cytokines and anti-inflammatory cytokines, which further affect central nervous system and change brain function. Our research confirmed that Dihuang Yinzi can exert brain protection by inhibiting inflammatory reaction. Dihuang Yinzi can significantly decrease the contents of interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), and interleukin-17 (IL-17) in brain, serum, and colon tissues and increase the contents of transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) and interleukin-10 (IL-10) in cerebral ischemia-reperfusion model rats. The results of 16s rRNA high-throughput sequencing showed that Dihuang Yinzi had a significant effect on microbiome in rats. The firmicutes, bacteroidetes, and proteobacteria were dominant in Dihuang Yinzi group. The content of firmicutes increased with the increase of dosage of Dihuang Yinzi. Especially, the content of actinomycetes in the high-dose group was higher than other groups. At the genus level, the number of bacteroides in the antibiotic groups was significantly higher than that in the other treatment groups. The results suggest that Dihuang Yinzi may play important roles in treatment of ischemic stroke by regulating the gut microbiota and the inflammatory reaction in the colon tissues, serum, and brain of the model rats, to verify the scientific nature of this prescription in relieving brain inflammatory reaction and brain injury by this way and to reveal the brain-gut related mechanism of Dihuang Yinzi in treating ischemic stroke.