The efficiency of total depletion of gut microbiota by the method of antibiotic delivery

Devyani Goswami, Amity University Kolkata

The gut microbiota has been a subject of high curiosity for decades among scientists. The microorganisms present in our intestines help us to digest the ingested food properly. Changing the metabolic activities or composition of the micro-biota causes various diseases like chronic inflammatory diseases, obesity, cancers, and many more. Although various researches were conducted on the relation between the gut microbiota and the human intestine there was no proper stated causation. One can find out the cause by manipulating the gut microbiota. This experimental approach has been used in various animal models, especially on the mouse with depleted gut microbiota. 

There are two main methods to obtain mice with depleted gut micro-biota, germ-free mice, and antibiotic-treated mice. The former one is avoided as it is quite an expensive method, while in the later the model is treated with wide-spectrum antibiotics to completely deplete the gut microbiome. A study was conducted to identify how different modes of antibiotics delivery affect gut microbiome and body composition.

The animals were divided into 4 groups: antibiotics given orally twice a day, one received antibiotics orally once a day, one group had antibiotics in drinking water, and the last group was not given any antibiotics. The result was calculated by cytometry and qPCR on the micro-biome collected from the faeces of the mice and was found that the group that was given antibiotics orally twice a day had shown no traces of micro-organisms after day 4, but the gut micro-biota was recolonized after day 12 when the antibiotics were stopped. 

Hence it is hard to conclude now for an antibiotic that could remove the harmful micro-organism forever from the guts.

Also read: A New way to Fight Diseases?

REFERENCE: Comparison of different modes of antibiotic delivery on gut microbiota depletion efficiency and body composition in mousehttps://doi.org/10.1186/s12866-020-02018-9

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