(P24-005-20) Contributions of Lactobacillus plantarum PC170 Administration on the Reconstruction of Gut Microbiota After Short-Term Ceftriaxone Exposure in Mice

Objectives: This study aimed to determine whether Lactobacillus plantarum PC170 (PC170) could alleviate the dysbiosis of gut microbiota, altered growth, and inflammatory response caused by short-term antibiotic treatment in mice.

Methods: The impact of probiotics concurrent with antibiotic treatment and/or during the recovery phase after antibiotic treatment on the body weight, fecal bacterial composition, short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) concentration, and splenic cytokine mRNA expression of mice were examined.

Results: Orally administrated ceftriaxone quantitatively and significantly decreased body weight, fecal total bacteria, A.muciniphila, and L.plantarum, and fecal SCFAs concentration. Ceftriaxone treatment also dramatically altered the fecal microbiota with an increased Chao1 index, decreased species diversities and Bacteroidetes, and more Firmicutes and Proteobacteria. After ceftriaxone intervention, these changes all gradually started to recover. However, fecal microbiota diversities were still totally different from control by significantly increased a and b diversities. Bacteroidetes all flourished and became dominant during the recovery process. However, mice treated with PC170 both in parallel with and after ceftriaxone treatment encouraged more Bacteroidetes, Verrucomicrobia, and Actinobacteria, and the diversity by which to make fecal microbiota was much closer to control. Furthermore, the expression of splenic pro-inflammatory cytokine TNF-α mRNA in mice supplemented with probiotic during the recovery phase was significantly lower than natural recovery.

Conclusions: These results indicated that antibiotics, such as ceftriaxone, even with short-term intervention, could dramatically damage the bacterial structure of gut microbiota and their abilities to produce SCFAs with loss of body weight. Although such damages could be partly recovered with the cessation of antibiotics, the implication of antibiotics to gut microbiota might remain even after antibiotic treatment. Probiotic use, especially some selected strains such as PC107 in parallel with and after antibiotic treatment, could help the host animal to remodel or stabilize its gut microbiome and enhance the anti-inflammatory response as protection from the side effects of antibiotic therapy.

Funding Sources: Sichuan Science and Technology Support Program