Impact of Environmental Microbes on the Composition of the Gut Microbiota of Adult BALB/c Mice

Abstract

To investigate the impact of microbes within the living environment on the gut microbiota of adults, we raised three groups of BALB/c mice from 3–4 weeks age in the same specific-pathogen-free animal room for 8 weeks. The control group lived in cages with sterilized bedding (pelletized cardboard), the probiotics group had three probiotics added to the sterilized bedding, and the intestinal microbes (IM) group had the intestinal microbes of a healthy goat added to the bedding. All other variables such as diet, age, genetic background, physiological status, original gut microbiota, and living room were controlled. Using high-throughput sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene, we observed that the control and probiotics groups had similar diversity and richness of gut microbiota. The two groups had significantly lower diversity than the IM group. We also observed that the IM group had a specific structure of gut microbial community compared with the control and probiotics groups. However, the dominate bacteria changed slightly upon exposure to intestinal microbes, and the abundance of the non-dominate species changed significantly. In addition, exposure to intestinal microbes inhibited DNFB-induced elevation of serum IgE levels. Our results provide new evidence in support of the microflora and hygiene hypotheses.

Herbicidal Activity of Thymbra capitata (L.) Cav. Essential Oil

“…Moreover, carvacrol reduced the number and length of the root hairs at the transition zone between hypocotyl and epicotyl ( Figure 11 ), but increased the presence of ectopic roots close to the root tip, which have been previously related to auxin unbalance and altered microtubule disposition [ 77 , 81 , 82 ].…”

“…This torsion can be detected as a zig-zag growth of the root ( Figure 11 C) but also as a spiral growth of primary and secondary roots ( Figure 11 B,C). As already known [ 77 , 78 , 79 ], torsion effects are related to the loss of gravitropism that is usually associated with alterations in the organization of the microtubules, resulting in the inhibition of root elongation [ 80 ].…”

Performance and intestinal microbiota of chickens receiving probiotic in the feed and submitted to antibiotic therapy

“…Thus, the control treatment had greater richness and diversity parameters of the microbial community in the caecum contents in relation to the others treatments. Greater diversity of the microbial community is associated with greater activation of immune cells and inflammatory process (Bai et al, ). Inflammation of the gut mucosal epithelium has been shown to be a key mechanism for mucosal colonization by several pathogens (Vuong, Chou, Hargis, Berghman, & Bielke, ).…”

One Health in hospitals: how understanding the dynamics of people, animals, and the hospital built-environment can be used to better inform interventions for antimicrobial-resistant gram-positive infections

“…There are many ways that animals, and their corresponding and unique microbial ecosystems, can positively and negatively enhance transmission of infectious pathogens. Exposure to animals, from pets in the home to farm animal exposure, can increase an individual's overall microbial diversity, which can then be protective against colonization of opportunistic pathogens [115][116][117]. This balance of being both a supply and deterrent of human pathogen colonization is the reason why animals are so essential to examine in any context, including the hospital environment.…”