Effects of parity, blood progesterone, and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory treatment on the dynamics of the uterine microbiota of healthy postpartum dairy cows

Abstract

This study evaluated the effects of treatment with meloxicam (a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug), parity, and blood progesterone concentration on the dynamics of the uterine microbiota of 16 clinically healthy postpartum dairy cows. Seven primiparous and 9 multiparous postpartum Holstein cows either received meloxicam (0.5 mg/kg SC, n = 7 cows) once daily for 4 days (10 to 13 days in milk (DIM)) or were untreated (n = 9 cows). Endometrial cytology samples were collected by cytobrush at 10, 21, and 35 DIM, from which the microbiota analysis was conducted using 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis. A radioimmunoassay was used to measure progesterone concentration in blood serum samples at 35 DIM and cows were classified as ˃ 1 ng/mL (n = 10) or ≤ 1 ng/mL (n = 6). Alpha diversity for bacterial genera (Chao1, Shannon-Weiner, and Camargo’s evenness indices) were not affected by DIM, meloxicam treatment, parity, or progesterone category. For beta diversity (genera level), principal coordinate analysis (Bray-Curtis) showed differences in microbiota between parity groups. At the phylum level, the relative abundance of Actinobacteria was greater in primiparous than multiparous cows. At the genus level, there was lesser relative abundance of Bifidobacterium, Lactobacillus, Neisseriaceae, Paracoccus, Staphylococcus, and Streptococcus and greater relative abundance of Bacillus and Fusobacterium in primiparous than multiparous cows. Bray-Curtis dissimilarity did not differ by DIM at sampling, meloxicam treatment, or progesterone category at 35 DIM. In conclusion, uterine bacterial composition was not different at 10, 21, or 35 DIM, and meloxicam treatment or progesterone category did not affect the uterine microbiota in clinically healthy postpartum dairy cows. Primiparous cows presented a different composition of uterine bacteria than multiparous cows. The differences in microbiota associated with parity might be attributable to changes that occur consequent to the first calving, but this hypothesis should be investigated further.

Gut Microbial Alterations in Diarrheal Baer's Pochards (Aythya baeri)

“…The α and β diversity indexes were calculated using QIIME 2 software. PCoA (31) were illustrated using R v3.0.3 software to characterize the fungal diversity among samples. Line discriminant analysis (LDA) effect size (LEfSe) (32) was used to find biomarkers with statistical differences between groups.…”

The early life microbiota mediates maternal effects on offspring growth in a nonhuman primate

“…More broadly, the maternal environment may program the infant gut microbiota for enhanced milk utilization via vertical microbial transmission. Thus far, parity effects on maternal microbiota have been demonstrated in agricultural species ( Berry et al., 2021 ; Bogado Pascottini et al., 2021 ), and more recently in humans ( Kervinen et al., 2021 ; Lopez Leyva et al., 2021 ). However, in pigs, parity effects extend to the infant gut microbiota, suggesting that such effects may be vertically transmitted from maternal reservoirs ( Berry et al., 2021 ).…”

Remodeling of the maternal gut microbiome during pregnancy is shaped by parity

“…Since both the maternal gut microbiome and parity have been identified as key determinants of gestational health, it is important to understand whether parity influences the microbiome during pregnancy. Previous studies in dairy cows have shown that animals pregnant for the first time (nulliparous) have different uterine and rumen microbiome compositions than do animals with only a single prior pregnancy (primiparous) or two or more previous pregnancies (multiparous) [ 13 , 14 ]. However, it is as yet unclear if parity impacts either the maternal gut microbiome during pregnancy or the microbiome of the developing offspring.…”