Reduced intestinal fucosylation in mice exposed to psychological stress

Abstract

Psychological stress frequently causes intestinal dysfunction and perturbation of gut microbiota. Chronic social defeat stress (CSDS) is a widely used rodent model of human mood disorders and depression. We previously showed that CSDS induced altera-tions of cecal and fecal microbiota which was associated with suppression of gene involved in immune response in the distal intestine of C57BL/6J mice. We introduced lection microarray analysis to determine glycation profile in intestinal tract. We found that CSDS significantly reduced the α1,2-fucose in distal small intestinal mucosa, but not with mucosa from proximal small intestine and colon. The α1,2-fucosylation is a major glycosylation detected on the surface of intestinal epithelial cells and secreted proteins and is known as a critical communication factor between host and intestinal commensal bacteria. CSDS may alter the gut microbiota by down-regulating α1,2-fucosylated glycan in intestinal epithelium.