Shi Zhi-Hai, Lan Ya-Li, Qiao Zhi-Hui, Yan Xiang-Zhou, Wang Ya-Zhou, Zhang Bin, Ma Xiao-Ya, Hassan Faiz-Ul, Wang Wen-Jia, Deng Ting-Xian
Institute of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine, Henan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Zhengzhou, 450002, China.
Key Laboratory of Buffalo Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction Technology, Buffalo Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Nanning, 530001, China.
BMC Vet Res. 2025 Mar 25;21(1):201. doi: 10.1186/s12917-025-04580-8.
Endometritis is a uterine infection caused by bacterial pathogens and has detrimental effects on productive and reproductive performance in dairy cows. A large number of studies have demonstrated the association of gut microbiota with infectious diseases. However, the role of gut microbiota in dairy cows with endometritis is still poorly understood.
In the present study, we characterized the fecal microbial populations in the dairy cows suffering from metritis (n = 10) and healthy cows (n = 9) using the 16 S rRNA gene sequencing. Results revealed an increased abundance of Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes in the affected cows indicating the potential role of these two bacterial taxa in the pathogenesis of endometritis. The Ruminococcaceae_UCG-005 was the predominant genus while Olsenella and Succinivibrio were the most abundant genera in the cows affected with metritis. Further, the association of specific genera from Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes indicated three co-occurrence groups indicating the potential interaction of these genera in modulating the immune response, dysbiosis and inflammatory reaction. In addition, a significantly higher abundance of genes involved in the excretory system was observed in affected cows.
Our findings provide evidence of changes in gut microbiota composition in cows suffering from metritis and advocate the need to explore the effect of commensal gut bacteria specifically co-occurring taxa in uterine inflammation and infection.
子宫内膜炎是由细菌病原体引起的子宫感染，对奶牛的生产和繁殖性能具有不利影响。大量研究已证明肠道微生物群与传染病之间存在关联。然而，肠道微生物群在患子宫内膜炎的奶牛中的作用仍知之甚少。
在本研究中，我们使用16S rRNA基因测序对患子宫炎的奶牛（n = 10）和健康奶牛（n = 9）的粪便微生物种群进行了特征分析。结果显示，患病奶牛中厚壁菌门和拟杆菌门的丰度增加，表明这两个细菌类群在子宫内膜炎发病机制中具有潜在作用。瘤胃球菌科_UCG - 005是优势属，而奥尔森菌属和琥珀酸弧菌属是患子宫炎奶牛中最丰富的属。此外，厚壁菌门和拟杆菌门中特定属的关联表明存在三个共现组，表明这些属在调节免疫反应、生态失调和炎症反应方面具有潜在的相互作用。此外，在患病奶牛中观察到参与排泄系统的基因丰度显著更高。
我们的研究结果提供了患子宫炎奶牛肠道微生物群组成变化的证据，并主张有必要探索共生肠道细菌特别是共现类群在子宫炎症和感染中的作用。
