Low-dosage antibiotic intake can disturb gut microbiota in mice

Subtherapeutic Kitasamycin Promoted Fat Accumulation in the Longissimus Dorsi Muscle in Growing-Finishing Pigs

Kitasamycin (KM), a broad-spectrum macrolide antibiotic, has implications for growth performance and residue in animals and humans. This study aimed to explore the effects of different KM doses on intramuscular fat accumulation, cecal microflora, and short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) using a growing-finishing pig model. Forty-two pigs were divided into three groups: control, subtherapeutic KM (50 mg/kg, KM50), and therapeutic KM (200 mg/kg, KM200) diets over 8 weeks. KM50 led to increased back fat thickness, fat content in the longissimus dorsi muscle (LM), and elevated plasma total cholesterol (TC) levels (p < 0.05), supported by upregulated lipid synthesis gene expression (Acc1, Fas, Scd1) (p < 0.05) in the LM. KM50 altered cecal microflora, reducing Lactobacillus spp. and Bifidobacterium spp. abundance, while increasing SCFA concentrations (acetic acid, propionic acid, total SCFAs) (p < 0.05). KM200 had minimal effects on intestinal weight and density, with increased apparent digestibility of nutrients. These findings highlight the dose-dependent impact of KM on intramuscular fat deposition. Subtherapeutic KM induced ectopic fat deposition, emphasizing potential risks in disease treatment for humans and animals.

Gut microbiota related response of Oryzias melastigma to combined exposure of polystyrene microplastics and tetracycline

The co-existence of microplastics (MPs) and antibiotics in the coastal environment poses a combined ecological risk. Single toxic effects of MPs or antibiotics on aquatic organisms have been verified, however, the exploration of their combined toxic effects remains limited. Here, foodborne polystyrene microplastics (PS-MPs, 10 μm, 0.1 % w/w in food) and waterborne tetracyclines (TC, 50 μg/L) were used to expose an estuarine fish Oryzias melastigma for four weeks. We found that the aqueous availability of TC was not significantly altered coexisting with MPs. The fish body weight gain was significantly slower in TC alone or combined groups than the control group, consistent with the lower lipid content in livers. The body length gain was significantly inhibited by the combined presence compared to the single exposure. Both exposures led to a shift of gut microbiota composition and diversity. TC and the combined group possessed similar gut microbiota which is distinct from PS-MPs and the control group. The Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes (F/B) ratio in the TC and combined groups were significantly lower compared to the control, while the PS-MPs group showed no significant impact. Metabolomic analysis of the fish liver confirmed the shift of metabolites in specific pathways after different exposures. More, a number of gut microbiota-related metabolites on lipid metabolism was perturbed, which were annotated in arachidonic acid metabolism and linoleic acid metabolism. In all, TC modulates bacterial composition in the fish gut and disturbs their liver metabolites via the gut-liver axis, which led to the slower growth of O. melastigma. More, the adverse impact was aggravated by the co-exposure to foodborne PS-MPs.

Short-term exposure to enrofloxacin causes hepatic metabolism disorder associated with intestinal flora dysbiosis in adult marine medaka (Oryzias melastigma)

Enrofloxacin (ENR) is a widely used fluoroquinolone antibiotic that is frequently detected in the environment. Our study assessed the impact of short-term ENR exposure on the intestinal and liver health of marine medaka (Oryzias melastigma) using gut metagenomic shotgun sequencing and liver metabolomics. We found that ENR exposure resulted in imbalances of Vibrio and Flavobacteria and enrichments of multiple antibiotic resistance genes. Additionally, we found a potential link between the host's response to ENR exposure and the intestinal microbiota disorder. Liver metabolites, including phosphatidylcholine, lysophosphatidylcholine, taurocholic acid, and cholic acid, in addition to several metabolic pathways in the liver that are closely linked to the imbalance of intestinal flora were severely maladjusted. These findings suggest that ENR exposure has the potential to negatively affect the gut-liver axis as the primary toxicological mechanism. Our findings provide evidence regarding the negative physiological impacts of antibiotics on marine fish.

Development and Validation of Multi-Residue Method for Drugs Analysis in Human Feces by Liquid Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectrometry

The use of veterinary drugs in animal production is a common practice to secure animal and human health. However, residues of administrated drugs could be present in animal food products. Levels of drugs in food of animal origin are regulated within the European Union. In recent years, residues have been detected not only in food, but also in the environmental elements such as water or soil, meaning that humans are involuntarily exposed to these substances. This article presents a multiclass method for the analysis of various therapeutic groups of pharmaceuticals in human feces. Pharmaceuticals are extracted from feces with an acid extraction solvent, and after filtration the extract was analyzed by HPLC-MS/MS. A limit of detection of 10 ng/g was achieved for 9 pharmaceuticals, with linearity over 0.99 and repeatability and reproducibility lower than 20%. The method was satisfactorily applied in 25 feces samples of individuals that had declared not to be under medical treatment for the last two months. Results indicate the presence of six different compounds at concentration between 10 and 456 ng/g. This preliminary study showed the involuntary exposure of human gut microbiota to active substances such as pharmaceuticals.

Feeding state greatly modulates the effect of xenobiotics on gut microbiome metabolism: A case study of tetracycline

The human gut microbiome is crucial in modulating host health mostly through bacterial metabolites. Chemical exposure is typical external stress which alters its composition and functionality. To date, very few studies have investigated the effect of feeding state on chemical-induced gut microbial metabolic dysregulations. Here, we set up an in vitro human gut microbiome and incorporated a metabolomics approach to investigate the effect of tetracycline (TET) at multiple doses (i.e., 10, 1, and 0.01 mg/L) on gut microbiome under the fed and fasted states. Overall, the metabolome was highly responsive at the fed state with 62 metabolites dysregulated while only 14 were altered at the fasted state under 10 mg/L (clinical TET dose). As expected, nutrient consumption was significantly inhibited under clinical TET dose at the fed state accumulating nutrients such as glutamate and leucine. Interestingly, at the fed state, TET could increase the synthesis of indole and phenyl derivatives including indole-3-aldehyde and hydrocinnamate, while inhibiting indoxyl, tryptamine, and vitamin B production, all of which have host health implications. Furthermore, metabolites like indoxyl and xanthurenic acid were still responsive at 0.01 mg/L (dietary TET dose). Collectively, results demonstrated that the feeding state greatly modulates the chemical-induced gut microbial metabolic alterations.

Sarecycline: A Review of Preclinical and Clinical Evidence

Sarecycline is a tetracycline-derived oral antibiotic, specifically designed for acne, and is approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2018 for the treatment of inflammatory lesions of non-nodular moderate to severe acne vulgaris (AV) in patients 9 years of age and older. It has been decades since a novel systemic antibiotic was approved to treat AV, a disease that affects up to 90% of teenagers and young adults worldwide and lasts well into adulthood. Sarecycline holds promise to yield fewer side effects than other commonly used broad-spectrum tetracyclines, including minocycline and doxycycline. The narrower spectrum of antibacterial activity of sarecycline, which specifically targets C. acnes and some Gram-positive bacteria with little or no activity against Gram-negative bacteria, suggests not only the potential for reduced emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacterial strains but also less disruption of the human gut microflora. Here, we review the key preclinical and clinical evidence on sarecycline.

Animal-Origin Prebiotics Based on Chitin: An Alternative for the Future? A Critical Review

The human gut microbiota has been revealed in recent years as a factor that plays a decisive role in the maintenance of human health, as well as in the development of many non-communicable diseases. This microbiota can be modulated by various dietary factors, among which complex carbohydrates have a great influence. Although most complex carbohydrates included in the human diet come from vegetables, there are also options to include complex carbohydrates from non-vegetable sources, such as chitin and its derivatives. Chitin, and its derivatives such as chitosan can be obtained from non-vegetable sources, the best being insects, crustacean exoskeletons and fungi. The present review offers a broad perspective of the current knowledge surrounding the impacts of chitin and its derived polysaccharides on the human gut microbiota and the profound need for more in-depth investigations into this topic. Overall, the effects of whole insects or meal on the gut microbiota have contradictory results, possibly due to their high protein content. Better results are obtained for the case of chitin derivatives, regarding both metabolic effects and effects on the gut microbiota composition.

Long-term exposure to TET increases body weight of juvenile zebrafish as indicated in host metabolism and gut microbiome

The application of tetracycline (TET) is very common in medical treatment, fisheries, and animal husbandry, resulting in its frequent detection with abundant concentrations in the aquatic environment. Though the effects of TET on zebrafish (Danio rerio) at embryonic and larval stages have been reported, there is very limited information on the possible long-term effect on aquatic fishes at the juvenile stage, especially at environmentally relevant levels. In this study, we have exposed juvenile zebrafish to two levels of TET at 1 and 100 µg/L for one month until their adulthood. The result showed that both levels of TET can significantly increase the body weight of the zebrafish, while there is no change in the body length. TET exposure also affected the liver microstructure by lipid vacuoles generation and global lipidomics analysis revealed a significant upregulation in hepatic triglyceride (TAG) levels. The metabolomics analysis showed great dysregulations in hepatic metabolic pathways including linoleic acid metabolism, tyrosine metabolism, and methionine metabolism, which are known to be linked with increased body weight gain through hepatic lipid accumulation. The hepatic gene expression involved in lipid transport (e.g., apoa4 and fabp11) and lipogenic factors (e.g., ppar) have been significantly upregulated in the livers of TET exposed zebrafish. Interestingly, the 16 rRNA gene sequence-based zebrafish gut microbial community analysis revealed an enhanced community diversity and altered microbial community composition upon TET exposure. To our knowledge, this is the first study showing that TET exposure can increase the body weight in juvenile zebrafish and the study on the ecotoxicity of antibiotic occurrences in the aquatic system can be further warranted.

Effect of flavophospholipol on fecal microbiota in weaned pigs challenged with Salmonella Typhimurium

BACKGROUND

The heightened prevalence of Salmonella Typhimurium remains a public health and food safety concern. Studies have reported antibiotic, flavophospholipol, may have the ability to reduce Salmonella in swine, as well as alter the gut microbiota in favour of beneficial bacteria by inhibiting pathogenic bacteria. Thus, the objective of this study was to investigate the fecal microbiota of weaned pigs receiving in-feed flavophospholipol and challenged with Salmonella Typhimurium.

RESULTS

Twenty-one weaned pigs were fed either a diet containing 4 ppm of flavophospholipol (treatment group) or a non-medicated feed (control group) for 36 days post-weaning (Day 1 to Day 36). The pigs were orally challenged with a 2 mL dose of 108 CFU/mL of S. Typhimurium at Day 7 and Day 8. Community bacterial DNA extracted from fecal samples collected at Day 6 (before challenge) and Day 36 (28 days after challenge) were used to assess the fecal microbiota using the V4 region of the 16S rRNA gene with Illumina MiSeq next-generation sequencing. Sequencing data were visualized using mothur and analyzed in JMP and R software. The fecal microbiota of pigs in the treatment group had differences in abundance of phyla (Firmicutes, Proteobacteria) and genera (Lactobacillus, Roseburia, Treponema, unclassified Ruminococcaceae, Blautia, Streptococcus, Megasphaera, Dorea, Sporobacter, Peptococcus, unclassified Firmicutes, Clostridium IV and Campylobacter) when compared to pigs that were controls, 28 days after challenge with Salmonella (P < 0.05). Specifically, results demonstrated a significant increase in phylum Proteobacteria (P = 0.001) and decrease in Firmicutes (P = 0.012) and genus Roseburia (P = 0.003) in the treated pigs suggestive of possible microbial dysbiosis. An increased abundance of genera Lactobacillus (P = 0.012) was also noted in the treated group in comparison to the control.

CONCLUSION

Based on these findings, it is difficult to conclude whether treatment with 4 ppm of flavophospholipol is promoting favorable indigenous bacteria in the pig microbiota as previous literature has suggested.

Low-dose tetracycline exposure alters gut bacterial metabolism and host-immune response: "Personalized" effect?

The human gut microbiome (GM) in healthy people is chronically exposed to tetracycline (TET) via environmental exposure and dietary uptake. However, limited information is available on its effect on the GM metabolome and effect on the host, especially at the dietary exposure level. Here, we investigated how TET at both sub-pharmaceutical and dietary exposure levels affects the metabolome and the secretome-induced host immune response by studying several representative gut bacteria. Interestingly, the metabolome showed a highly species-specific pattern with a distinct dose-response relationship. B. fragilis was highly sensitive to TET and vitamin, nucleotide, and amino acid metabolism pathways were the most vulnerable metabolic pathways at dietary exposure level. For key metabolite short chain fatty acids, TET significantly induced the synthesis of butyrate in B. fragilis, rather than C. sporogenes and E. coli. Furthermore, TET induced the release of lipopolysaccharides (LPS) in E. coli and enhanced the immune response; however, there was no obvious effect on B. fragilis. Interestingly, the overall immune response modulation with TET exposure relied on the ratio between E. coli and B. fragilis, possibly due to the neutralization of active LPS from E. coli by the LPS from B. fragilis. Overall, our results showed that the effect of TET from environmental exposure on the host health would be highly dependent on the GM composition, especially for the gut bacterial metabolome and secretome induced immune response.