Antibiotic-Driven Dysbiosis Mediates Intraluminal Agglutination and Alternative Segregation of Enterococcus faecium from the Intestinal Epithelium.

ABSTRACT:

Unlabelled

The microbiota of the mammalian gastrointestinal tract is a complex ecosystem of bacterial communities that continuously interact with the mucosal immune system. In a healthy host, the mucosal immune system maintains homeostasis in the intestine and prevents invasion of pathogenic bacteria, a phenomenon termed colonization resistance. Antibiotics create dysbiosis of microbiota, thereby decreasing colonization resistance and facilitating infections caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Here we describe how cephalosporin antibiotics create dysbiosis in the mouse large intestine, allowing intestinal outgrowth of antimicrobial-resistant Enterococcus faecium. This is accompanied by a reduction of the mucus-associated gut microbiota layer, colon wall, and Muc-2 mucus layer.

SUBMITTER: Hendrickx AP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4659461 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature