Intestinal flora imbalance induced by antibiotic use in rats

Abstract

Background In our study, we administered various concentrations of antibiotics to rats, to investigate the changes in the flora of rat feces. Methods Similar Sprague Dawley female rats (n = 84) were divided into A - G groups. The rat feces were collected for microbial analysis. The analytical method used a different culture medium for bacterial cultures and count colonies under a microscope. On the 11th and 15th days, we dissected one rat in each group, taking 5 ml of abdominal aortic blood. TNF-α, IL1-β, IL-6, and C-reactive protein (CRP) were detected by an enzyme-linked immune sorbent assay (ELISA). Results Rats have an average weight of 176.26 g. Between the groups no significant difference was found for starting average weight (p > 0.05) but after experiments, significant differences existed in weight, food intake, water intake, and stool samples within 2 hours (p = 0.04, 0.016, < 0.001, and 0.009, respectively). Significant differences were found between the groups for nine tested microbiotas (p < 0.001). TNF-α,IL1-β༌IL-6༌and CRP were significantly different between all groups (p < 0.001). Conclusions Antibiotics can cause disorder in rat intestinal flora, also causing an inflammatory response in their blood system.