Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America.
Department of Pathobiology, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2019 Aug 30;14(8):e0215497. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0215497. eCollection 2019.
In people, colonization with Clostridioides difficile, the leading cause of antibiotic-associated diarrhea, has been shown to be associated with distinct gut microbial features, including reduced bacterial community diversity and depletion of key taxa. In dogs, the gut microbiota features that define C. difficile colonization are less well understood. We sought to define the gut microbiota features associated with C. difficile colonization in puppies, a population where the prevalence of C. difficile has been shown to be elevated, and to define the effect of puppy age and litter upon these features and C. difficile risk. We collected fecal samples from weaned (n = 27) and unweaned (n = 74) puppies from 13 litters and analyzed the effects of colonization status, age and litter on microbial diversity using linear mixed effects models. Colonization with C. difficile was significantly associated with younger age, and colonized puppies had significantly decreased bacterial community diversity and differentially abundant taxa compared to non-colonized puppies, even when adjusting for age. C. difficile colonization remained associated with decreased bacterial community diversity, but the association did not reach statistical significance in a mixed effects model incorporating litter as a random effect. Even though litter explained a greater proportion (67%) of the variability in microbial diversity than colonization status, we nevertheless observed heterogeneity in gut microbial community diversity and colonization status within more than half of the litters, suggesting that the gut microbiota contributes to colonization resistance against C. difficile. The colonization of puppies with C. difficile has important implications for the potential zoonotic transfer of this organism to people. The identified associations point to mechanisms by which C. difficile colonization may be reduced.
在人类中，艰难梭菌（导致抗生素相关性腹泻的主要原因）的定植与独特的肠道微生物特征相关，包括细菌群落多样性降低和关键分类群耗竭。在犬中，定义艰难梭菌定植的肠道微生物特征还不太清楚。我们试图确定与幼犬艰难梭菌定植相关的肠道微生物特征，因为已经表明幼犬中艰难梭菌的患病率较高，并确定幼犬年龄和窝对这些特征和艰难梭菌风险的影响。我们从 13 窝中收集了断奶（n = 27）和未断奶（n = 74）幼犬的粪便样本，并使用线性混合效应模型分析了定植状态、年龄和窝对微生物多样性的影响。艰难梭菌定植与年龄较小显著相关，与未定植的幼犬相比，定植的幼犬的细菌群落多样性显著降低，且分类群丰度存在差异，即使在调整年龄后也是如此。艰难梭菌定植仍然与细菌群落多样性降低相关，但在纳入窝作为随机效应的混合效应模型中，这种关联未达到统计学意义。尽管窝对微生物多样性的变异性的解释比例（67%）大于定植状态，但我们仍然观察到超过一半的窝中肠道微生物群落多样性和定植状态存在异质性，这表明肠道微生物群有助于抵抗艰难梭菌定植。幼犬中艰难梭菌的定植对该生物体向人类的潜在人畜共患病传播具有重要意义。所确定的关联指出了艰难梭菌定植可能减少的机制。
