Antibiotic treatment of rat dams affects bacterial colonization and causes decreased weight gain in pups

Area of Science:

• Microbiology
• Developmental Biology
• Metabolic Programming

Background:

• The intestinal microbiota is established at birth and crucial for mammalian development.
• Antibiotic exposure can disrupt this initial colonization, potentially impacting metabolic health.
• Early-life microbiota-dependent metabolic programming is sensitive to environmental perturbations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the metabolic consequences of early-life exposure to an antibiotic-perturbed, low-diversity gut microbiota in Wistar rats.
• To determine if maternal antibiotic exposure affects offspring's weight and metabolic markers without direct pup exposure.

Main Methods:

• Neonate Wistar rats were exposed to a low-diversity microbiota from birth to weaning.
• Mothers were treated with amoxicillin or vancomycin.
• Body weight, feed intake, and colonic PYY gene expression were measured at weaning and adulthood.

Main Results:

• Pups from antibiotic-treated dams exhibited reduced weight gain and lower feed intake compared to controls.
• Increased colonic PYY satiety hormone gene expression was observed at weaning.
• Weight differences persisted into adulthood despite the normalization of gut microbiota composition.

Conclusions:

• Early-life exposure to an antibiotic-perturbed microbiota is sufficient to induce long-lasting metabolic changes, including persistent alterations in body weight.
• Maternal antibiotic treatment can indirectly program offspring metabolism through alterations in the early-life gut microbiome.
• These findings underscore the critical window of early-life gut microbiota development for long-term metabolic health.