2021 Volume 33 Issue 192 Pages E21-E26
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 alterations 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.