Dataset Information

Handling stress may confound murine gut microbiota studies.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Accumulating evidence indicates interactions between human milk composition, particularly sugars (human milk oligosaccharides or HMO), the gut microbiota of human infants, and behavioral effects. Some HMO secreted in human milk are unable to be endogenously digested by the human infant but are able to be metabolized by certain species of gut microbiota, including Bifidobacterium longum subsp. infantis (B. infantis), a species sensitive to host stress (Bailey & Coe, 2004). Exposure to gut bacteria like B. infantisduring critical neurodevelopment windows in early life appears to have behavioral consequences; however, environmental, physical, and social stress during this period can also have behavioral and microbial consequences. While rodent models are a useful method for determining causal relationships between HMO, gut microbiota, and behavior, murine studies of gut microbiota usually employ oral gavage, a technique stressful to the mouse. Our aim was to develop a less-invasive technique for HMO administration to remove the potential confound of gavage stress. Under the hypothesis that stress affects gut microbiota, particularly B. infantis, we predicted the pups receiving a prebiotic solution in a less-invasive manner would have the highest amount of Bifidobacteria in their gut.

Methods

This study was designed to test two methods, active and passive, of solution administration to mice and the effects on their gut microbiome. Neonatal C57BL/6J mice housed in a specific-pathogen free facility received increasing doses of fructooligosaccharide (FOS) solution or deionized, distilled water. Gastrointestinal (GI) tracts were collected from five dams, six sires, and 41 pups over four time points. Seven fecal pellets from unhandled pups and two pellets from unhandled dams were also collected. Qualitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was used to quantify and compare the amount of Bifidobacterium, Bacteroides, Bacteroidetes, and Firmicutes.

Results

Our results demonstrate a significant difference between the amount of Firmicutes in pups receiving water passively and those receiving FOS actively (p-value = 0.009). Additionally, we found significant differences between the fecal microbiota from handled and non-handled mouse pups.

Discussion

From our results, we conclude even handling pups for experimental purposes, without gavage, may induce enough stress to alter the murine gut microbiota profile. We suggest further studies to examine potential stress effects on gut microbiota caused by experimental techniques. Stress from experimental techniques may need to be accounted for in future gut microbiota studies.

SUBMITTER: Allen-Blevins CR

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5234434 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Handling stress may confound murine gut microbiota studies.

Allen-Blevins Cary R CR You Xiaomeng X Hinde Katie K Sela David A DA

PeerJ 20170111

<h4>Background</h4>Accumulating evidence indicates interactions between human milk composition, particularly sugars (human milk oligosaccharides or HMO), the gut microbiota of human infants, and behavioral effects. Some HMO secreted in human milk are unable to be endogenously digested by the human infant but are able to be metabolized by certain species of gut microbiota, including <i>Bifidobacterium longum</i> subsp. <i>infantis (B. infantis)</i>, a species sensitive to host stress (Bailey & Co ...[more]

PMID: 28097073

Similar Datasets

Project description:BackgroundThe aim of the present study was to characterize the effects of handling stress on the microbiota in the intestinal gut contents of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) fed a plant-based diet from two different breeding lines (initial body weights: A: 124.69 g, B: 147.24 g). Diets were formulated in accordance with commercial trout diets differing in their respective protein sources: fishmeal (35% in fishmeal-based diet F, 7% in plant protein-based diet V) and plant-based proteins (47% in diet F, 73% in diet V). Experimental diets were provided for 59 days to all female trout in two separate recirculating aquaculture systems (RASs; mean temperature: A: 15.17 °C ± 0.44, B: 15.42 °C ± 0.38). Half of the fish in each RAS were chased with a fishing net twice per day to induce long-term stress (Group 1), while the other half were not exposed to stress (Group 0).ResultsNo differences in performance parameters were found between the treatment groups. By using 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing of the hypervariable region V3/V4, we examined the microbial community in the whole intestinal content of fish at the end of the trial. We discovered no significant differences in alpha diversity induced by diet or stress within either genetic trout line. However, the microbial composition was significantly driven by the interaction of stress and diet in trout line A. Otherwise, in trout line B, the main factor was stress. The communities of both breeding lines were predominantly colonized by bacteria from the phyla Fusobacteriota, Firmicutes, Proteobacteria, Actinobacteriota, and Bacteroidota. The most varying and abundant taxa were Firmicutes and Fusobacteriota, whereas at the genus level, Cetobacterium and Mycoplasma were key components in terms of adaptation. In trout line A, Cetobacterium abundance was affected by factor stress, and in trout line B, it was affected by the factor diet.ConclusionWe conclude that microbial gut composition, but neither microbial diversity nor fish performance, is highly influenced by stress handling, which also interacts with dietary protein sources. This influence varies between different genetic trout lines and depends on the fish's life history.

Dataset Information

Handling stress may confound murine gut microbiota studies.

Background

Methods

Results

Discussion

Publications

Handling stress may confound murine gut microbiota studies.

Similar Datasets

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