Melatonin improves the homeostasis of mice gut microbiota rhythm caused by sleep restriction.

Insufficient sleep is regarded as a disruptor of circadian rhythm, and it also contributes to the occurrence of intestinal diseases. The physiological functions of the gut depend on the normal circadian rhythm of the intestinal microbiota. However, how lack of sleep affects intestinal circadian homeostasis is unclear. Therefore, we subjected mice to sleep restriction and found that chronic sleep loss disrupts the pattern of colonic microbial communities and reduces the proportion of gut microbiota with a circadian rhythm, with concomitant changes in the peak phase of the KEGG pathway. We then found that exogenous melatonin supplementation restored the proportion of gut microbiota with a circadian rhythm and increased the KEGG pathway with a circadian rhythm. And we screened for possible circadian oscillation families, Muribaculaceae and Lachnospiraceae, that are sensitive to sleep restriction and can be rescued by melatonin. Our results suggest that sleep restriction disrupts the circadian rhythm of the colonic microbiota. In contrast, melatonin ameliorates disturbances in the circadian rhythm homeostasis of the gut microbiota due to sleep restriction.