Regulation of intestinal flora in patients with chronic atrophic gastritis by modified Chai Shao Liu Jun Zi decoction based on 16S rRNA sequencing

Chai Shao Liu Jun Zi decoction (CSLJZD) is an effective Chinese medicine for the treatment of chronic atrophic gastritis (CAG). However, the effect of CSLJZD on the intestinal flora of patients with CAG remains unclear. We used 16S rRNA gene sequencing to investigate the regulatory effects of CSLJZD on intestinal microflora in patients with CAG. Eight patients with CAG were randomly selected as the model group and 8 healthy medical examiners as the control group; the treatment group comprised patients with CAG after CSLJZD treatment. High-throughput sequencing and bioinformatics analysis of the V3V4 region of the 16S rRNA gene of intestinal bacteria obtained from the intestinal isolates of fecal specimens from all participants were performed separately. A rarefaction curve, species accumulation curve, Chao1 index, and ACE index were calculated to assess the alpha diversity. Principal component analysis (PCA), non-metric multi-dimensional scaling, and the unweighted pair group method with arithmetic mean were used to examine beta diversity. The LEfSe method was used to identify the differentially expressed bacteria. Differential function analysis was performed using PCA based on KEGG function prediction. Rarefaction and species accumulation curves showed that the sequencing data were reasonable. The Chao1 and ACE indices were significantly increased in patients with CAG compared with those in the healthy group. Following CSLJZD and vitacoenzyme treatment, Chao1 and ACE indices decreased. The PCA, non-metric multi-dimensional scaling, and unweighted pair group method with arithmetic mean results showed that the CAG group was distinct from the healthy and treatment groups. The LEfSe results showed that the abundances of the genus Bilophila, family Desulfovibrionaceae, order Desulfovibrionales and genus Faecalibacterium were significantly higher in the healthy group. The abundance of genus Klebsiella, order Deltaproteobacteria, genus Gemmiger, and other genera was significantly higher in the treatment group. Treatment with CSLJZD had a therapeutic effect on the intestinal flora of patients with CAG.