Dataset Information

Efficacy of Phage Therapy in Controlling Rabbit Colibacillosis and Changes in Cecal Microbiota.

ABSTRACT: Phage therapy is a valid weapon that we could use to fight against pathogens. Bacteriophages kill bacteria and self-proliferate in the digestive tract. Furthermore, it was assumed that phage therapy could preserve the existing gut microbiota. In this study, 45 rabbits were equally divided into three groups after they were orally inoculated with pathogenic Escherichia coli to induce gut infection. Each group was treated with bacteriophage ZRP1 (Group P), ciprofloxacin lactate (Group A), or phosphate-buffered solution (PBS) (Group N). Another 15 healthy rabbits composed the control group (Group C). The body weight gain decreased significantly, but the white blood cell (WBC) count, especially the percentage of large WBCs, and the serum endotoxin levels increased significantly after infection. The result of microscopic examination of the ileum showed that E. coli ZR1 adhered to villi and caused hemorrhage inside the villi. Groups P and A rabbits recovered after treatments, and both bacteriophage and antibiotic treatment significantly decreased the eaeA gene concentration in cecal contents. The microbiota in cecal contents changed in infected rabbits that were treated with PBS. The relative abundance of Clostridiales and YS2 decreased but the relative abundance of Enterobacteriales increased significantly. According to the principal components analysis, the microbiota of Groups P and C rabbits were similar to one another in type and relative abundance but different from those of Groups N and A rabbits. The results demonstrated that oral administration of bacteriophage can cure gut infection with minimal impact on the cecal microbiota.

SUBMITTER: Zhao J

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5447005 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Efficacy of Phage Therapy in Controlling Rabbit Colibacillosis and Changes in Cecal Microbiota.

Zhao Jian J Liu Yan Y Xiao Chenwen C He Shaojie S Yao Huochun H Bao Guolian G

Frontiers in microbiology 20170529

Phage therapy is a valid weapon that we could use to fight against pathogens. Bacteriophages kill bacteria and self-proliferate in the digestive tract. Furthermore, it was assumed that phage therapy could preserve the existing gut microbiota. In this study, 45 rabbits were equally divided into three groups after they were orally inoculated with pathogenic <i>Escherichia coli</i> to induce gut infection. Each group was treated with bacteriophage ZRP1 (Group P), ciprofloxacin lactate (Group A), or ...[more]

PMID: 28611755

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Project description:To gain insight into the importance of carefully selecting the sampling area for intestinal microbiota studies, cecal and fecal microbial communities of Caldes meat rabbit were characterized. The animals involved in the study were divided in two groups according to the feed intake level they received during the fattening period; ad libitum (n = 10) or restricted to 75% of ad libitum intake (n = 11). Cecum and internal hard feces were sampled from sacrificed animals. Assessment of bacterial and archaeal populations was performed by means of Illumina sequencing of 16S rRNA gene amplicons in a MiSeq platform. A total of 596 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) were detected using QIIME software. Taxonomic assignment revealed that microbial diversity was dominated by phyla Firmicutes (76.42%), Tenericutes (7.83%), and Bacteroidetes (7.42%); kingdom Archaea was presented at low percentage (0.61%). No significant differences were detected between sampling origins in microbial diversity or richness assessed using two alpha-diversity indexes: Shannon and the observed number of OTUs. However, the analysis of variance at genus level revealed a higher presence of genera Clostridium, Anaerofustis, Blautia, Akkermansia, rc4-4, and Bacteroides in cecal samples. By contrast, genera Oscillospira and Coprococcus were found to be overrepresented in feces, suggesting that bacterial species of these genera would act as fermenters at the end of feed digestion process. At the lowest taxonomic level, 83 and 97 OTUs in feces and cecum, respectively, were differentially represented. Multivariate statistical assessment revealed that sparse partial least squares discriminant analysis (sPLS-DA) was the best approach for this purpose. Interestingly, the majority of the most discriminative OTUs selected by sPLS-DA were found to be differentially represented between sampling origins in univariate analysis. Our study provides evidence that the choice of intestinal sampling area is relevant due to important differences in some taxa's relative abundance that have been revealed between rabbits' cecal and fecal microbiota. An appropriate sampling intestinal area should be chosen in each microbiota assessment.

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Dataset Information

Efficacy of Phage Therapy in Controlling Rabbit Colibacillosis and Changes in Cecal Microbiota.

Publications

Efficacy of Phage Therapy in Controlling Rabbit Colibacillosis and Changes in Cecal Microbiota.

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