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Updated: Oct 15, 2025
Long Term Chronic Pseudomonas aeruginosa Airway Infection in Mice
Published on: March 17, 2014
Gut microbiota dysbiosis contributes to the development of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
Naijian Li1, Zhouli Dai2, Zhang Wang3
1Department of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, State Key Laboratory of Respiratory Disease, National Clinical Research Center for Respiratory Disease, Guangzhou Institute of Respiratory Health, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, 151 Yanjiang Road, Guangzhou, Guangdong, People's Republic of China.
Background:
Dysbiosis of the gut microbiome is involved in the pathogenesis of various diseases, but the contribution of gut microbes to the progression of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is still poorly understood.
Methods:
We carried out 16S rRNA gene sequencing and short-chain fatty acid analyses in stool samples from a cohort of 73 healthy controls, 67 patients with COPD of GOLD stages I and II severity, and 32 patients with COPD of GOLD stages III and IV severity. Fecal microbiota from the three groups were then inoculated into recipient mice for a total of 14 times in 28 days to induce pulmonary changes. Furthermore, fecal microbiota from the three groups were inoculated into mice exposed to smoke from biomass fuel to induce COPD-like changes.
Results:
We observed that the gut microbiome of COPD patients varied from that of healthy controls and was characterized by a distinct overall microbial diversity and composition, a Prevotella-dominated gut enterotype and lower levels of short-chain fatty acids. After 28 days of fecal transplantation from COPD patients, recipient mice exhibited elevated lung inflammation. Moreover, when mice were under both fecal transplantation and biomass fuel smoke exposure for a total of 20 weeks, accelerated declines in lung function, severe emphysematous changes, airway remodeling and mucus hypersecretion were observed.
Conclusion:
These data demonstrate that altered gut microbiota in COPD patients is associated with disease progression in mice model.
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