IADR Abstract Archives
Oral-Gut Microbiota Assessment in a Host Infection Animal Model
Objectives: Modifications of microbiota related to oral disease, therapeutic intervention or diet have been explored using animal models. However, specific microbiota composition and changes at different body-sites remain largely unknown, while some animal models suffer from cross-contamination due to coprophagia, making global assessment challenging. Here, we employed a host oral infection rat model using suspended cages to investigate the gastrointestinal microbiota. Furthermore, we assessed the impact of topical oral applications of a repurposed FDA-approved drug thonzonium bromide (TB) to acquire new knowledge about shared/unique microbiota related to topical drug treatment and its effects from local (oral) to distant (gut) body-sites.
Methods: We used Sprague-Dawley rat co-infected with Candida albicans and Streptococcus mutans as the animal model. We provided PBS or TB as oral treatment twice a day for 3 weeks. Oral swab, dental plaque, and fecal samples were collected for microbiota analysis. Large-scale and hypothesis-driven computational data analyses were performed using DNA sequencing and metadata, including caries and infection levels, oral tissues and organs.
Results: We found a well-defined and distinctive site-specific microbiota in the animal model, mirroring the characteristics found in the human microbiome across different body sites. TB applications substantially perturbed the local oral microbiota based on oral swab and dental plaque analysis, showing specific disruption of Rothia and Veillonella (vs. PBS). Interestingly, despite significant disruption and targeting of the oral communities, no impact on the fecal bacterial community was observed, indicating localized microbiota disturbances may not necessarily inflict major changes of the distant microbiomes.
Conclusions: Our findings demonstrate a robust animal model for site-specific assessment of the gastrointestinal microbiome, and reveal how FDA approved drug for repurposing can inflict specific changes in the oral bacterial community while sparing the gut microbiome. In addition, we also provide a novel and comprehensive computational pipeline for oral-gut microbiome assessment.
Methods: We used Sprague-Dawley rat co-infected with Candida albicans and Streptococcus mutans as the animal model. We provided PBS or TB as oral treatment twice a day for 3 weeks. Oral swab, dental plaque, and fecal samples were collected for microbiota analysis. Large-scale and hypothesis-driven computational data analyses were performed using DNA sequencing and metadata, including caries and infection levels, oral tissues and organs.
Results: We found a well-defined and distinctive site-specific microbiota in the animal model, mirroring the characteristics found in the human microbiome across different body sites. TB applications substantially perturbed the local oral microbiota based on oral swab and dental plaque analysis, showing specific disruption of Rothia and Veillonella (vs. PBS). Interestingly, despite significant disruption and targeting of the oral communities, no impact on the fecal bacterial community was observed, indicating localized microbiota disturbances may not necessarily inflict major changes of the distant microbiomes.
Conclusions: Our findings demonstrate a robust animal model for site-specific assessment of the gastrointestinal microbiome, and reveal how FDA approved drug for repurposing can inflict specific changes in the oral bacterial community while sparing the gut microbiome. In addition, we also provide a novel and comprehensive computational pipeline for oral-gut microbiome assessment.