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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Microorganisms in Vertebrate Digestive Systems
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2025.1479792
This article is part of the Research Topic Rodent model organisms: Therapeutic treatments and drugs interaction with the gut microbiome View all 40 articles

The gut microbiota regulates diabetic retinopathy in adult rats

Provisionally accepted
Jueyu Hou Jueyu Hou 1Zhongping Lv Zhongping Lv 1*Yujiao Wang Yujiao Wang 1*Danian Chen Danian Chen 2*
  • 1 Department of Ophthalmology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China
  • 2 Research Laboratory of Ophthalmology and Vision Sciences, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is the most common complication of diabetes. Neuronal apoptosis, activated microglia, and microvascular changes are early features of DR. The gut microbiota is critical for the maturation and activation of microglia in the brain, and DR patients exhibit gut dysbiosis. However, the effect of the gut microbiota on retinal microglia under normal or diabetic conditions is still unclear. In this study, type 2 diabetes (T2D) was established in male adult Brown Norway (BN) rats. Long-term (6 months) T2D caused gut dysbiosis with increased average taxa numbers. We showed that broad-spectrum antibiotics (ABXs) gavage can reduce the average number of gut microbiota taxa and retinal microglia in adult male BN rats with or without T2D.Interestingly, adult male BN rats with T2D for more than six months showed a loss of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) without significant changes in retinal microglia or retinal vascular vessels. However, ABX gavage reduced retinal microglia and alleviated RGC damage in these T2D rats. Our data suggests that ABX gavage-induced gut dysbiosis can reduce retinal microglia in adult rats and alleviate RGC loss in long-term T2D rats.Targeting the gut microbiota may be a future therapeutic strategy for DR management.

    Keywords: Diabetic Retinopathy, Microglia, Gut Microbiota, Broad-spectrum antibiotics (ABX), retinal ganglion cells (RGCs), BN rats

    Received: 12 Aug 2024; Accepted: 06 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Hou, Lv, Wang and Chen. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Zhongping Lv, Department of Ophthalmology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China
    Yujiao Wang, Department of Ophthalmology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China
    Danian Chen, Research Laboratory of Ophthalmology and Vision Sciences, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.