Mechanical unloading and exercise volume differentially modulate the gut microbiome and intestinal gene expression in mice

Hindlimb suspension in mice reduces cecal microbial richness (Observed, Chao1, ACE) and is linked to significant shifts in overall community composition versus controls.

• Why it matters: Mechanical unloading and exercise can alter gut microbes and intestinal physiology, but how exercise volume and prior hindlimb suspension shape these effects is unclear.
• What they did: Mice were assigned to control, hindlimb suspension, high-volume exercise, low-volume exercise, or hindlimb suspension followed by exercise; cecal 16S rRNA sequencing used alpha/beta diversity and LinDA, and jejunal qPCR measured oxidative stress, inflammation, metabolic signaling, and epithelial markers.
• The result: Low-volume exercise showed the most extensive phylum-level differential abundance, while high-volume exercise had no significant phylum-level differences; both exercise groups increased GPX1, HMOX1, NFKB1, and SOD2, and hindlimb suspension followed by exercise did not yield a microbial community composition significantly different from hindlimb suspension alone.

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