Song Hyokeun, Mun Seung-Hyun, Han Dae-Woong, Kang Jung-Hun, An Jae-Uk, Hwang Cheol-Yong, Cho Seongbeom
College of Veterinary Medicine and Research Institute for Veterinary Science, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea.
Comparative Medicine Disease Research Center, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea.
BMC Microbiol. 2025 Apr 22;25(1):228. doi: 10.1186/s12866-025-03924-6.
Canine atopic dermatitis (cAD) is a chronic inflammatory disease that significantly reduces the quality of life in dogs. Dysbiosis of the gut microbiota affects skin diseases through the gut-skin axis. Therefore, microbiota-targeted therapy may potentially serve as a new management strategy for cAD. The present study aimed to investigate the association between gut microbiota and cAD and to evaluate the effect of probiotics on the clinical symptoms of cAD and gut microbiota in dogs.
Gut microbiota was analyzed at baseline and after 8 and 16 weeks. Baseline analysis revealed significantly lower (p < 0.05) gut microbial diversity in dogs with cAD than in healthy dogs. Differential abundance analysis showed that Fusobacterium, Megamonas, Collinsella, unclassified Clostridiales, Bacillus, Helicobacter, and Caproiciproducens were significantly more abundant in healthy dogs. In contrast, Clostridioides, Erysipelatoclostridium, Clostridium, Terrisporobacter, and unclassified Ruminococcaceae were significantly more abundant in dogs with cAD, In addition, differential abundance analysis showed that the abundance of 46 metabolic pathways were significantly different between healthy dogs and dogs with cAD indicating the dysbiosis of the gut microbiota in cAD. Moreover, the clinical severity of cAD was negatively correlated (p < 0.05) with alpha diversity and the abundance of Fusobacterium and Megamonas. Notably, daily probiotic administration for 16 weeks significantly decreased the clinical severity (p < 0.05). Dogs with good prognoses exhibited significantly increased alpha diversity, whereas those with poor prognoses did not, suggesting that the therapeutic effects of probiotics may be mediated by changes in gut microbial diversity.
This study highlights the association between gut microbiota dysbiosis and cAD in dogs and demonstrates that probiotic administration can effectively ameliorate cAD by improving gut microbial dysbiosis. These findings provide a basis for novel microbiota-based therapies in cAD treatment.
犬特应性皮炎（cAD）是一种慢性炎症性疾病，会显著降低犬的生活质量。肠道微生物群的失调通过肠-皮肤轴影响皮肤疾病。因此，针对微生物群的治疗可能成为cAD的一种新的管理策略。本研究旨在调查肠道微生物群与cAD之间的关联，并评估益生菌对犬cAD临床症状和肠道微生物群的影响。
在基线以及8周和16周后对肠道微生物群进行了分析。基线分析显示，患有cAD的犬的肠道微生物多样性显著低于健康犬（p < 0.05）。差异丰度分析表明，健康犬中梭杆菌属、巨单胞菌属、柯林斯菌属、未分类的梭菌目、芽孢杆菌属、螺杆菌属和产己酸菌属的丰度显著更高。相比之下，艰难梭菌属、猪红斑丹毒丝菌属、梭菌属、土芽孢杆菌属和未分类的瘤胃球菌科在患有cAD的犬中丰度显著更高。此外，差异丰度分析表明，健康犬和患有cAD的犬之间46种代谢途径的丰度存在显著差异，表明cAD中肠道微生物群的失调。此外，cAD的临床严重程度与α多样性以及梭杆菌属和巨单胞菌属的丰度呈负相关（p < 0.05）。值得注意的是，连续16周每日服用益生菌可显著降低临床严重程度（p < 0.05）。预后良好的犬的α多样性显著增加，而预后不良的犬则没有，这表明益生菌的治疗效果可能是由肠道微生物多样性的变化介导的。
本研究强调了犬肠道微生物群失调与cAD之间的关联，并表明服用益生菌可通过改善肠道微生物失调有效改善cAD。这些发现为基于微生物群的cAD治疗新疗法提供了依据。
