Relationship between food grinding and gut microbiota in Brandt’s voles

Food grinding is an abnormal behavior in rodents, and its influencing factors are unknown. Our study investigated the potential relationships between gut microbiota and food grinding in Brandt’s voles (Lasiopodomys brandtii (Radde, 1861)) by comparing the differences between groups with different degrees of food grinding. The strong food-grinding group showed more relative food ground, higher ratio of ground food to food consumption, and lower percentage of time spent in the central area. The structure of fecal microbiota community differed between the strong and weak food-grinding groups. Strong and weak food-grinding voles showed higher abundance of Alistipes and Aerococcus and Atopostipes, Paenalcaligenes, Un--s-Clostridiaceae bacterium GM1, and Streptococcus, respectively. Strong correlations between the food ground to consumption ratio and abundances of fecal microbiota were found in Streptococcus and Paenalcaligenes. Fecal acetate and isobutyrate contents were higher in strong food-grinding voles and positively correlated with relative ground food and food ground to consumption ratio. Our study suggests that gut microbiota and short-chain fatty acids may contribute to the regulation of food-grinding behavior.