CHARACTERIZATION OF GUT AND LIVER MICROBIOME ALTERATIONS IN A STREPTOZOTOCIN INDUCED RAT MODEL OF LIVER DAMAGE

Liver cirrhosis or damage in liver cells are well reported in many clinical conditions. However, the participation of microbiota in these conditions is being relatively less explored. The present study aimed to evaluate the changes in microbiome in both the liver and the gut in a rat model of liver damage by Streptozotocin (STZ). The experiment was performed on adult male Wistar rats, divided in control and experimental groups. The experimental rats were treated with STZ (65mg/kg b.w.) dissolved in citrate buffer, while the control subjects were treated by injecting 0.5 ml normal saline. The liver and gut samples were collected after the 14^th week of drug/normal saline treatment. The experimental results demonstrated a large increase in microbes colonies in the liver with respect to the gut. The results showed the appearance of grooves, flagella-like structures, and undulated surfaces were observed in the three bacterial isolates i.e., control liver (CSBEBT37_1C_CL) STZ-treated liver (CSBEBT37_1E_SL) and STZ-treated colon (CSBEBT37_2E_C), respectively. The cocci bacterial cells exhibited smooth surfaces or undulated surfaces with few projections. The bacterial isolates of the STZ-treated colon were found to be rod in shape but had different surface features in CSBEBT37_1E_C, CSBEBT37_4E_C, and CSBEBT37_5E_C, the surface displayed undulations without any projections.The findings indicate increase in bacterial colonies by 9.06 folds in the liver damage and 2.4-fold in gut community in the STZ treated rat model compared to the control and hence confirms the role of microbiota in STZ induced experimental liver damages.