Effects of barley plus butter dietary on symptoms of intestinal flora in mice and dextran sodium sulfate induced ulcerative colitis

Objective To explore the effect of barley plus butter dietary on the symptoms of dextran sodium sulfate induced chronic ulcerative colitis and intestinal microbial distribution in mice. Methods In customized feed(C feed), soybean oil and corn meal in standard mice breeding feed (N feed) were replaced with equal proportion of ghee and raw barley powder.28 male mice were randomly divided into 4 groups(n=7,each group):NW group fed with N feed and water; ND group fed with N feed and 1.8% DSS; CW group fed with C feed and water; CD group fed with C feed and 1.8% DSS. Colitis model was established by three cycles of 10 days supply of distilled water after 7 days supply of 1.8% DSS solution. Finally, the effects were evaluated by DAI score, colon HE staining and 16S rRNA high-throughput sequencing of gut microbes. Results The abundance of bacteria was increased and the diversity of intestinal flora, such as allobaculum, was improved in wild type mice fed on the barley and butter dietary. However, when the mice were treated with DSS, the barley plus butter dietary group had high DAI score(P＜0.05), showed obvious intestinal ulcers and disorganized intestinal glands by histopathological microscopy, and decreased intestinal flora abundance and diversity(P＜0.05). But the quantity of Clostridium and Sartreella was increased in barley and butter dietary group(P＜0.05). Conclusions The barley plus butter dietary increases intestinal flora Allobaculum of wild type mice and improves the composition of intestinal flora, but the dietary intervention fails to show any significant impact on the chronic ulcerative colitis symptoms induced by DSS.