Effects of different types of drinking water on growth and fecal flora of mice / 中国比较医学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To explore the effects of different types of drinking water on the growth and fecal flora of mice.Methods Specific pathogen-free NIH mice were randomly divided into five groups,32 mice each group,with half males and half females in each group.The group were given either purified water(control group),acidified water,alkalized water,weakly acidic water or solid water.Diet and body weight were monitored continuously for 20 days.After the experiment,animal fecal samples were collected,and the V3-V4 region was amplified with bacterial 16S rDNA universal primers.An Illumina Miseq high-throughput sequencing platform was used for high-throughput sequencing,and microbial community,α diversity and β diversity were analyzed by bioinformatics method.Results The body weight of female mice given different pH values of weakly acidic water was higher,while the weight of the other groups was lower,than that of the control group(P＞0.05).The body weight of male mice in the acidified water group was higher,while that of other groups was lower,than that of control group,but there was no statistical difference between the groups(P＞0.05).The body weights of male and female mice in the solid water group were lower than those in the control group(P＜0.05).The food and water intake of the female animals in the alkaline water group and the water intake of female animals in the solid water group were lower than those of the other groups.OTU clustering analysis showed that the data volume of the sequencing was reasonable,and the fecal flora species of NIH mice were divided into five phyla,among which Bacteroides and Firmicutes were dominant.Unclassified Pseudopurpuromonas,Lactobacillus and Alistipes were the main genera.There were differences in fecal flora abundance and diversity among the mice given the five drinking water types.α analysis showed that the acidified water group had the highest flora abundance and diversity,while the solid water group had the lowest flora diversity.β analysis showed that the fecal flora composition in the solid water group was the closest to that of the control group,followed by the alkalized water group,acidified water group and weakly acidic water group.Conclusions Through an exploration of the effects of consuming different forms of water,this study revealed that solid water consumption had the greatest effects on body weight,feed intake,water consumption,and fecal flora of mice.The abundance and diversity of fecal flora in mice were affected by different pH values of drinking water,especially acidified water.