Background: Mosapride significantly improves intestinal motility in liver cirrhosis, ultimately leading to the reduction in plasma endotoxin levels and bacterial translocation.
Objectives: To investigate the effects of mosapride on intestinal microecology in cirrhotic rats and its potential mechanisms.
Material and methods: Forty-five healthy male Sprague-Dawley rats that were pathogen-free (weight 200-220 g) were randomly divided into a control group (n = 15), model group (n = 15) and mosapride group (n = 15). Then, the pathological changes in the liver and intestine were determined through tissue staining and using transmission electron microscope (TEM). Bacterial translocation was examined. High throughput 16S rRNA sequencing was performed to determine the changes of gut microbiota in each group.
Results: Compared with the model group, mosapride treatment induced no attenuation in hepatic morphology and pathology changes. The TEM indicated no differences in intestinal structure in both groups. There was a significant decline in the rate of gut microbiota translocation in the mosapride group compared with the model group. There were intestinal microbiota changes in the mosapride group compared with that of the model group, including Bacteroidetes, Prevotellaceae, Alloprevotella, Ruminiclostridium, Negativicutes, Selenomonadales, Veillonellaceae, Anaerovibrio, Campylobacterales, Epsilonbacteraeota, Helicobacter, Oscillibacter, Verrucomicrobiales, Akkermansia, Intestinimonas, Eubacterium, Clostridiaceae, Clostridium, Bacteroides, Tyzzerella, Actinobacteria, and Bifidobacteriales. Among these bacteria, Alloprevotella showed a strong correlation with the other bacteria.
Conclusions: Taken together, we concluded that mosapride may reduce intestinal bacterial translocation through regulating the gut microbiota in rats with hepatic cirrhosis.
Keywords: 16S rRNA; bacterial translocation; gut microbiota; liver cirrhosis; mosapride.