Figure 4: Deletion of GR from the intestinal epithelium modifies alcohol and corticosterone-induced alteration of gut microbiota composition.

Adult GR^ΔHC and GR^ΔIEC mice were fed a liquid diet with (EF) or without (PF) ethanol for four weeks. In some groups, animals were injected with corticosterone (Cort) daily; the other groups received the vehicle. The composition of microbiota in colonic flushing was analyzed by 16S rRNA-sequencing and metagenomics. a: The relative abundance of different phyla of bacteria. b-d: The Shannon Index was used to quantify α-diversity. e-g: Principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) based on Bray-Curtis dissimilarity analysis was performed to determine β-diversity. h: Spearman’s correlation of microbiota at the genus level in different experimental groups. Blue boxes identify some of the genera of bacteria with significant differences between the GR^ΔHC and GR^ΔIEC EF+Cort groups. i-k: 16S ribosomal DNA from flushing samples were analyzed for the abundance of Enterobacteriaceae (i), E. coli (j), and Lactobacillus (k) by RT-qPCR. Values are mean ± SEM (n = 6); * = p<0.05, ** = p<0.01, and *** = p<0.005 for significant difference between the indicated groups; “ns” = not significant.