Figure 5.

Co-housing improves gut microbiota disbalance induced by aging in both sexes.

(a) Principal co-ordinates analysis plots of cecal microbiota at OUT level based on unweighted_unifrac. (b) Shannon index. (c-d) The relative abundance of the dominant phyla after co-housing in both sexes. (e-f) The differential genera that were significantly changed during aging and were reversed by co-housing in male and female mice, respectively. (g-h) Relative abundance of cecal microbiota involved in BAs metabolism at genus level. T0 to T7 that marked below the bar plots are the eight major phylotypes of BSH. Meanwhile, the squares filled with purple, orange, green, yellow, and blue represent bacteria that associated with BSH deconjugation, 7α-dehydroxylation, esterify, C-6 epimerization, and desulfation functions, respectively. *p < .05, **p < .01, compared with young group. ^#p < .05, ^{# #}p < .01, compared with old group. n = 5–6 mice per group.