The Uterine Microbiota in Mares With Endometritis: Impacts of Antibiotic Treatment

Despite growing interest in the role of the reproductive microbiota, the uterine microbiota of mares has been only scarcely investigated using sequencing approaches. The aims of this study were to describe the uterine microbiota of mares with endometritis and the effects of antibiotic treatment using both 16S rRNA sequencing and culture. Five mares with clinical signs of endometritis and a positive bacteriological culture were enrolled. During the follicular phase (T0), uterine samples were collected using a double-guarded cytobrush and swab for microbiome and bacteriological analysis, respectively. Following the antimicrobial susceptibility test, they were treated with intrauterine infusions of ceftiofur sodium, and samplings were repeated during the subsequent follicular phase (T1). According to bacterial culture, at T0, Streptococcus equi zooepidemicus was identified in 4 mares and Escherichia coli in one. At T1, 3 mares resulted negative, one was positive for Staphylococcus xylosus, and one continued to test positive for E. coli. According to NGS, the most represented genera at T0 were Streptococcus, Escherichia-Shigella, Corynebacterium, Arcanobacterium, Porphyromonas, and Staphylococcus. The first 3 genera dominated the microbiome of 4 mares with a relative abundance ranging from 44% to 99%. At T1, these genera's relative abundance dropped, and the most abundant were Acinetobacter, Staphylococcus, and Pseudomonas. Furthermore, after intrauterine infusion of ceftiofur, the microbiome was more diverse, according to Shannon and Simpson indexes (p < 0.05).