Li S, Zhang N, Li W, Zhang HL, Wang XX. Gastrointestinal problems in a valproic acid-induced rat model of autism: From maternal intestinal health to offspring intestinal function. World J Psychiatry 2024; 14(7): 1095-1105 [PMID: 39050201 DOI: 10.5498/wjp.v14.i7.1095]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Xiao-Xi Wang, PhD, Research Assistant, Institute of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, No. 16 South Street, Dongzhimen Nei, Beijing 100000, China. wxxcacms@163.com
Research Domain of This Article
Psychiatry
Article-Type of This Article
Basic Study
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Psychiatry. Jul 19, 2024; 14(7): 1095-1105 Published online Jul 19, 2024. doi: 10.5498/wjp.v14.i7.1095
Gastrointestinal problems in a valproic acid-induced rat model of autism: From maternal intestinal health to offspring intestinal function
Sha Li, Nan Zhang, Wang Li, Han-Lai Zhang, Xiao-Xi Wang
Sha Li, Nan Zhang, Han-Lai Zhang, Xiao-Xi Wang, Institute of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing 100000, China
Sha Li, Wang Li, Institute of Basic Theory for Chinese Medicine, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing 100000, China
Co-first authors: Sha Li and Nan Zhang.
Author contributions: Li S and Zhang N contributed to this study equally as co-first authors of this manuscript. Wang XX conceived and designed the study and wrote the manuscript; Li S and Li W performed the experiments and analyzed the data; Zhang HL and Zhang N reviewed and edited the manuscript; and all authors approved the final version.
Supported bythe National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 82305035.
Institutional animal care and use committee statement: The study protocol was approved by the Institute of Acupuncture and Moxibustion Animal Care and Use Committee (approval No. Y2023-03-14-02).
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
ARRIVE guidelines statement: The authors have read the ARRIVE guidelines, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the ARRIVE guidelines.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Xiao-Xi Wang, PhD, Research Assistant, Institute of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, No. 16 South Street, Dongzhimen Nei, Beijing 100000, China. wxxcacms@163.com
Received: January 30, 2024 Revised: May 13, 2024 Accepted: June 4, 2024 Published online: July 19, 2024 Processing time: 163 Days and 22.9 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a developmental disorder characterized by social deficits and repetitive behavior. Gastrointestinal (GI) problems, such as constipation, diarrhea, and inflammatory bowel disease, commonly occur in patients with ASD. Previously, GI problems of ASD patients were attributed to intestinal inflammation and vertical mother-to-infant microbiome transmission.
AIM
To explore whether GI problems in ASD are related to maternal intestinal inflammation and gut microbiota abnormalities.
METHODS
An ASD rat model was developed using valproic acid (VPA). Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and fecal 16S rRNA sequencing were used to test GI changes.
RESULTS
VPA exposure during pregnancy led to pathological maternal intestinal changes, resulting in alterations in maternal gut microbiota. Additionally, the levels of inflammatory factors also increased. Moreover, prenatal exposure to VPA resulted in impaired duodenal motility in the offspring as well as increased levels of inflammatory factors.
CONCLUSION
GI problems in ASD may be associated with maternal intestinal inflammation and microbiota abnormality. Future research is required to find more evidence on the etiology and treatment of GI problems in ASD.
Core Tip: In previous studies, the etiology and treatment of gastrointestinal (GI) tract disease in autistic patients have not received sufficient attention. Thus, our research focused more on GI problems in autism, and used the valproic acid-induced autism model to explore the relationship of maternal gut microbiota and inflammation with offspring GI problems. In this study, we found that valproic acid exposure during pregnancy was related to pathological maternal intestinal changes and alterations in maternal gut microbiota. Our findings will provide more evidence and possibilities for autism intervention.
