Search

Background A high-fat diet (HFD) induced perturbation of gut microbiota is a major contributory factor to promote the pathophysiology of HFD-associated metabolic syndrome. The HFD could also increase the susceptibility to the microbial infections warranting the use of antibiotics which are independently capable of impacting both gut microbiota and metabolic syndrome. Further, the usage of antibiotics in individuals consuming HFD can impact mitochondrial function that can be associated with an elevated risk of chronic conditions like inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Despite this high propensity to infections in individuals on HFD, the link between duration of HFD and antibiotic treatment, and its impact on diversity of the gut microbiome and features of metabolic syndrome is not well established. In this study, we have addressed these knowledge gaps by examining how the gut microbiota profile changes in HFD-fed mice receiving antibiotic intervention in the form of amoxicillin. We also determine whether antibiotic treatment in HFD-fed mice may adversely impact the ability of immune cells to clear microbial infections. Methods and Results We have subjected mice to HFD and chow diet (CD) for 3 weeks, and a subset of these mice on both diets received antibiotic intervention in the form of amoxicillin in the 3rd week. Body weight and food intake were recorded for 3 weeks. After 21 days, all animals were weighted and sacrificed. Subsequently, these animals were evaluated for basic haemato-biochemical and histopathological attributes. We used 16S rRNA sequencing followed by bioinformatics analysis to determine changes in gut microbiota in these mice. We observed that a HFD, even for a short-duration, could successfully induce the partial pathophysiology typical of a metabolic syndrome, and substantially modulated the gut microbiota in mice. The short course of amoxicillin treatment to HFD-fed mice resulted in beneficial effects by significantly reducing fasting blood glucose and skewing the number of thrombocytes towards a normal range. Remarkably, we observed a significant remodelling of gut microbiota in amoxicillin-treated HFD-fed mice. Importantly, some gut microbes associated with improved insulin sensitivity and recovery from metabolic syndrome only appeared in amoxicillin-treated HFD-fed mice reinforcing the beneficial effects of antibiotic treatment in the HFD-associated metabolic syndrome. Moreover, we also observed the presence of gut-microbiota unique to amoxicillin-treated HFD-fed mice that are also known to improve the pathophysiology associated with metabolic syndrome. However, both CD-fed as well as HFD-fed mice receiving antibiotics showed an increase in intestinal pathogens as is typically observed for antibiotic treatment. Importantly though, infection studies with S. aureus and A. baumannii, revealed that macrophages isolated from amoxicillin-treated HFD-fed mice are comparable to those isolated from mice receiving only HFD or CD in terms of susceptibility, and progression of microbial infection. This finding clearly indicated that amoxicillin treatment does not introduce any additional deficits in the ability of macrophages to combat microbial infections. Conclusions Our results showed that amoxicillin treatment in HFD-fed mice exert a beneficial influence on the pathophysiological attributes of metabolic syndrome which correlates with a significant remodelling of gut microbiota. A novel observation was the increase in microbes known to improve insulin sensitivity following amoxicillin treatment during short-term intake of HFD. Even though there is a minor increase in gut-resistant intestinal pathogens in amoxicillin-treated groups, there is no adverse impact on macrophages with respect to their susceptibility and ability to control infections. Taken together, this study provides a proof of principle for the exploration of amoxicillin treatment as a potential therapy in the people affected with metabolic syndrome. Keywords: High-fat diet, Gut microbiota, Metabolic syndrome, Pathogens, Amoxicillin, Immune cells, Author(s): Suresh Kumar[sup.1], V. Samuel Raj[sup.2], Ayaan Ahmad[sup.3] and Vikram Saini[sup.3,4] Background High-fat diet (HFD) consumption can have serious adverse effects on human metabolic and immune health. The HFD sparks [...]

Giving antibiotics to individuals who have been bitten by a deer tick may not be necessary, even in areas with a high prevalence of Lyme disease. Deer ticks carry the bacterium Borrelia (B.) burgdorferi, which causes Lyme disease. Proper care and possible treatment for deer-tick bites in areas where Lyme disease is prevalent. In a one-year study of 387 people who had been bitten by deer ticks, 205 were given the antibiotic amoxicillin and 182 were given a placebo, or inactive substance. Some brought the ticks with them, and of 344 ticks analyzed, 15% were infected with B. burgdorferi. Only two patients on taking placebo developed symptoms of B. burgdorferi infection, and none of those on amoxicillin developed the infection. The risk of infection did not differ significantly between the group taking amoxicillin and the group taking placebo.

Byline: Shaista Bano Sarfraz A. Tunio Ameer Afzal Memon Hakim Detho Rozina Bano and Kalpna Kumari Abstract ABSTRACT OBJECTIVES: to evaluate the antibiotic susceptibility of uropathogens circulating in the Hyderabad [...]