Effect of Liushenqu on intestinal flora distribution and brain-gut petide levels in mice with functional constipation
Authors: Guo Kang'xiao , Yi Xin , Tang Yuan , Tan Zhoujin 
Published: August 2023

Abstract
In order to verify the efficacy of Liushenqu on functional constipation and reveal the mechanism of intestinal microecology, our prepared a mouse model of functional constipation and intervened. During the intervention period, the mouse body weight and fecal water content were observed. After the intervention, 5-HT, VIP in the mouse serum were tested, and the intestinal flora in the mouse intestinal contents were sequenced for 16S rRNA. The experimental results showed that functional constipation would lead to slow weight growth, sharp decrease in fecal water content, decrease in serum VIP content, decrease in microbial activity in the intestinal tract (p < 0.01), decrease in the diversity of intestinal flora, accelerated proliferation of pathogenic bacteria, and inhibition of the growth of beneficial bacteria. After the intervention, the weight growth of mice was accelerated, but it was still different from normal mice (p < 0.01), but the fecal water content had returned to normal (p > 0.05), and the VIP content in serum gradually recovered, but it was still different from normal mice. In terms of the intestinal microbiota, 6. After the intervention of the Divine Comedy, Significant enhanced (p > 0.05), The number of OTU s increased from 511 to 642, characteristic flora was characterized by uncltured Facklamia, Alteromonadaceae and Chitinophagaceae. Change to Lachnospiraceae, Solibacterales, Candidatus Solibacter, Phocaeicola vulgatus, Lachnospiraceae, Gammaproteobacteria, Clostridiales, Candidatus Arthromitus. At the family level, the top 10 species of bacterial abundance in the feces of mice in each group are Sutterellaceae, Bacteroridaceae, Akkermansiaceae, Lachnospiraceae, Eggerthellaceae, Muribaculaceae, Bacillaceae, Clostridiaceae, unclassified Bacilli, Lactobacillaceae. Among them, the abundance of bacterial communities is relatively high, and the bacterial communities with significant changes in different groups are: Lactobacillilaceae, unclassified Bacilli, Clostridiaceae, Bacillilaceae, and Muriaculaceae. At the genus level, the top 10 species of bacterial abundance in the feces of mice in each group are unclassified Bacilli, Lactobacillus, Candidatus Arthromitus, Bacillus, Ligilactabacillus, unclassified Muribaculaceae, Akkermansia, Bacteroides, Lachnospirace NK4A136 group, Parasutterella Among them, the abundance ratio of bacterial communities is high, and the bacterial communities with significant changes in different groups are: unclassified Bacilli, Lactobacillus, Candidatus Arthromitus, Bacillius, Ligilactabacillius, unclassified Microbiaculaceae, Bacteroides. After the intervention of Liushenqu, the bacterial community proportion structure tends to be closer to that of normal mice. In conclusion, the intestinal microflora imbalance in patients with functional constipation, mainly manifested by the decrease in the number of probiotics and the increase in the number of harmful bacteria, and the sharp decrease in the serum VIP level. By regulating the structure of intestinal flora, Liushenqu affects the secretion of short chain fatty acids in the intestinal tract and regulates the intestinal function, while short chain fatty acids stimulates the increase of the expression of VIP. VIP further regulates the intestinal flora through its own action, forming a virtuous cycle, so as to achieve the effect of relieving functional constipation.