Intestinal microbiota is a key target for load swimming to improve anxiety behavior and muscle strength in Shank3-/- rats

Abstract

Abstract Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by social disorder and stereotypical behavior, and its incidence rate is increasing year by year. Early treatment is considered to be a critical period for the prognosis of young children with ASD. Swimming, due to its comfort, is often used to develop the enthusiasm of young children for activities, and has a good effect in the treatment of ASD, But its effective path to be reported. The intestinal microbiota of ASD patients and animal models has been reported to be different from those of healthy controls, and these changes may affect the brain environment. Therefore, whether the intestinal microbiota is involved in the treatment of ASD by early swimming is our concern. In this study, we conducted 8-day old Shank3 gene knockout rats with early load swimming training for 8 weeks, and conducted behavioral, small intestine morphology, and intestinal content sequencing after training. The results showed that early load swimming significantly reduced the stereotyped and anxious behaviors of Shank3−/− rats, increased their muscle strength, increased the length of intestinal villi and the width of muscular layer after Shank3 knockout, and affected the abundance of intestinal microorganisms, the abundances with statistical significance are Lactobacillus, Lachnospiraceae, Alloprevotella. In order to further confirm the role of intestinal microorganisms in it, we designed a 14 day intestinal stool transplantation experiment. Fecal microbiota transplantation concluded that load swimming can significantly reduce the anxiety behavior of Shank3 rats, increase their muscle strength, change the structure of the small intestine, and affect the abundance of intestinal contents, The abundance of Epsilonbateraeota, Prevotella, and Bacteroides significantly changed after transplantation. Our findings confirm the possibility of early load swimming therapy for ASD and explain that intestinal microbiota is a key pathway for early exercise therapy for ASD.