State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, School of the Environment, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210023, PR China.
Ecotoxicology. 2021 Oct;30(8):1620-1631. doi: 10.1007/s10646-020-02319-9. Epub 2020 Dec 6.
Antibiotics can disturb the gut microbial community and host metabolism. However, their recovery after antibiotics exposure needs to be characterized, and the correlation between gut microbiota and host metabolism remains unclear. In this study, mice were exposed to 0.5, 1.5 and 10 g/L tetracycline hydrochloride (TET) for 2 weeks, then recovered without TET for another 2 weeks. The results showed that 2-week TET exposure changed microbial community and functions in the mouse gut, and increased abundance of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs), especially in the 10 g/L TET group. After a 2-week recovery, these changes could only be recovered to the control level in the 0.5 g/L TET exposure group, except for ARGs. Besides gut microbiota, TET exposure also changed metabolic profiles in mouse urine. The 2-week recovery significantly reduced changes in metabolic profiles. Some altered metabolites were found to have a very high correlation with gut microbial community and functions, indicating that TET exposure might induce certain changes in urinary metabolic profiles by altering the gut microbiota. The results from this study suggest that the influences of low-level TET exposure are reversible, except for ARGs, which should be paid more attention. During the application of TET, their dosage should be effectively considered and controlled.
抗生素会扰乱肠道微生物群落和宿主代谢。然而，需要对其暴露于抗生素后的恢复情况进行描述，且肠道微生物群与宿主代谢之间的相关性仍不清楚。在这项研究中，小鼠连续 2 周暴露于 0.5、1.5 和 10 g/L 盐酸四环素（TET）中，然后再无 TET 暴露的情况下恢复 2 周。结果表明，2 周 TET 暴露改变了小鼠肠道中的微生物群落和功能，并增加了抗生素抗性基因（ARGs）的丰度，尤其是在 10 g/L TET 组中。2 周的恢复期后，除了 ARGs 外，这些变化仅能在 0.5 g/L TET 暴露组中恢复到对照水平。除了肠道微生物群外，TET 暴露还改变了小鼠尿液中的代谢谱。2 周的恢复期显著降低了代谢谱的变化。一些发生改变的代谢物与肠道微生物群落和功能具有非常高的相关性，这表明 TET 暴露可能通过改变肠道微生物群而导致尿液代谢谱发生某些变化。本研究结果表明，除 ARGs 外，低水平 TET 暴露的影响是可逆的，在 TET 的应用过程中，应更加关注其剂量的有效考虑和控制。
