Vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE) infection is a serious challenge for clinical management and there is no effective treatment at present. Fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) and probiotic intervention have been shown to be promising approaches for reducing the colonization of certain pathogenic bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract, however, no such studies have been done on VRE. In this study, we evaluated the effect of FMT and two Lactobacillus strains (Y74 and HT121) on the colonization of VRE in a VRE-infection mouse model. We found that both Lactobacilli strains reduced VRE colonization rapidly. Fecal microbiota and colon mRNA expression analyses further showed that mice in FMT and the two Lactobacilli treatment groups restored their intestinal microbiota diversity faster than those in the phosphate buffer saline (PBS) treated group. Administration of Lactobacilli restored Firmicutes more quickly to the normal level, compared to FMT or PBS treatment, but restored Bacteroides to their normal level less quickly than FMT did. Furthermore, these treatments also had an impact on the relative abundance of intestinal microbiota composition from phylum to species level. RNA-seq showed that FMT treatment induced the expression of more genes in the colon, compared to the Lactobacilli treatment. Defense-related genes such as defensin α, Apoa1, and RegIII were down-regulated in both FMT and the two Lactobacilli treatment groups. Taken together, our findings indicate that both FMT and Lactobacilli treatments were effective in decreasing the colonization of VRE in the gut.
Water pollution is a global problem.
Therefore, efficient methods
for oil/water separation, degradation of organic dyes, and adsorption
of metal ions from wastewater are urgently needed for environmental
protection. Herein, mesoporous g-C3N4, nanosized
Fe3O4, and aminopropyl triethoxysilane were
used as raw materials to assemble a multifunctional magnetic water
purification material (MPG-C3N4/Fe3O4/NH2). The homogeneously dispersed Fe3O4 particles and hydrophobic hydrocarbon chain
on the surface endows it with excellent magnetic oil/water separation
properties even after 10 cycles. MPG-C3N4/Fe3O4/NH2 possesses prominent adsorption
capacity of as high as 93.45 mg/g for metallic ions Cu2+. The adsorption of Cu2+ on MPG-C3N4/Fe3O4/NH2 is in accordance with
the second-order kinetic model and the Langmuir monolayer adsorption
model. Notably, MPG-C3N4/Fe3O4/NH2 can degrade organic pollutants because of
its photocatalytic ability due to the heterojunction formation between
MPG-C3N4 and Fe3O4 nanoparticles.
The hydrophobic surface allows more oxygen to enter the heterogeneous
degradation system, improving the efficiency of O2 to receive
photogenerated electrons to convert into O2
•–. Surprisingly, MPG-C3N4/Fe3O4/NH2 can be used as a heterogeneous photoactivated
Fenton catalyst with brilliant degradation rates and efficiency (as
high as 95% within 40 min) toward complicated organic pollutants,
for example, RhB, phenol, and BPA with favorable reusability.
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