Effect of artesunate supplementation on bacterial translocation and dysbiosis of gut microbiota in rats with liver cirrhosis

Table 1 Effect of artesunate on gut microbiota in rats with cirrhosis (n = 6)

Time points	N		M		MA
	Shannon index	Sorenson index	Shannon index	Sorenson index	Shannon index	Sorenson index
4 wk	2.98 ± 0.00608		2.44 ± 0.0606b	0.571 vs N at 4 wk	2.59 ± 0.0566g	0.600 vs M at 4 wk
6 wk	2.94 ± 0.0284	0.686 vs N at 4 wk	2.44 ± 0.0103d	0.686 vs N at 6 wk	2.39 ± 0.0417	0.615 vs M at 6 wk
8 wk	2.32 ± 0.103b,d	0.581 vs N at 6 wk	2.63 ± 0.123e	0.462 vs N at 8 wk	2.66 ± 0.119	0.875 vs M at 8 wk

The diversity of each group was obtained using Shannon index. The normalized similarity between different groups was obtained using Sorenson index, and the values closer to 0 indicate a lower similarity, meaning high degree of difference in bacterial composition between the two groups, while the values closer to 1 indicate a higher similarity, implying that a little change occurred between the two groups.

^bP < 0.01 vs N group at 4 wk;

^dP < 0.01 vs N group at 6 wk;

^eP < 0.05 vs N group at 8 wk;

^gP < 0.05 vs M group at 4 wk.

Table 2 Effect of artesunate on bacterial translocation in rats with liver cirrhosis (n = 6)

Groups		Blood	MLNs	Liver	Spleen	Kidney	TR
4 wk	N	0	2	0	0	0	6.67%
	M	0	4	1	0	1	20.00%
	MA	0	2	0	0	0	6.67%
6 wk	N	0	0	0	0	0	0
	M	0	6b	2	1	5a	46.67%b
	MA	0	3	2	1	3	30.00%
8 wk	N	0	1	0	0	0	3.33%
	M	0	6c	5c	3	6d	66.67%d
	MA	0	5	3	2	2	40.00%e

The numbers in the table represent the positive number of cultures of various organs and TR in all groups.

^aP < 0.05,

^bP < 0.01 vs N group at 6 wk;

^cP < 0.05,

^dP < 0.01 vs N group at 8 wk;

^eP < 0.05 vs M group at 8 wk