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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Immunol.
Sec. Microbial Immunology
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2024.1451356
This article is part of the Research Topic Improving the Gut Microbiome: Applications of Fecal Transplantation in Disease - Volume II View all articles

Protective effect of gut microbiota restored by fecal microbiota transplantation in a sepsis model in juvenile mice

Provisionally accepted
Young Joo Han Young Joo Han 1SungSu Kim SungSu Kim 2Haksup Shin Haksup Shin 3Hyun Woo Kim Hyun Woo Kim 4June Dong Park June Dong Park 5*
  • 1 Severance Children's Hospital, Seoul, Republic of Korea
  • 2 Laboratory Animal Experiment Center, Bionsystems, Uiwang-si, Gyeonggi-do, Republic of Korea
  • 3 Wide River Institute of Immunology, College of Medicine, Seoul National University, Hongcheon, Republic of Korea
  • 4 Bio Convergence Team, Gangwon Techno Park Technology Innovation Support Center, Chuncheon-si, Gangwon-do, Republic of Korea
  • 5 College of Medicine, Seoul National University, Seoul, Seoul, Republic of Korea

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Restoring a balanced, healthy gut microbiota through fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) has the potential to be a treatment option for sepsis, despite the current lack of evidence. This study aimed to investigate the effect of FMT on sepsis in relation to the gut microbiota through a sepsis model in juvenile mice.Methods: Three-week-old male mice were divided into three groups: the antibiotic treatment (ABX), ABX-FMT, and control groups. The ABX and ABX-FMT groups received antibiotics for seven days. FMT was performed through oral gavage in the ABX-FMT group over the subsequent seven days. On day 14, all mice underwent cecal ligation and puncture (CLP) to induce abdominal sepsis. Blood cytokine levels and the composition of fecal microbiota were analyzed, and survival was monitored for seven days post-CLP.Results: Initially, the fecal microbiota was predominantly composed of the phyla Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes. After antibiotic intake, an extreme predominance of the class Bacilli emerged. FMT successfully restored antibiotic-induced fecal dysbiosis. After CLP, the phylum Bacteroidetes became extremely dominant in the ABX-FMT and control groups. Alpha diversity of the microbiota decreased after antibiotic intake, was restored after FMT, and decreased again following CLP. In the ABX group, the concentrations of interleukin-1β (IL-1β), IL-2, IL-6, IL-10, granulocyte macrophage colony-stimulating factor, tumor necrosis factor-α, and C-X-C motif chemokine ligand 1 increased more rapidly and to a higher degree compared to other groups. The survival rate in the ABX group was significantly lower (20.0%) compared to other groups (85.7%).FMT-induced microbiota restoration demonstrated a protective effect against sepsis. This study uniquely validates the effectiveness of FMT in a juvenile mouse sepsis model, offering potential implications for clinical research in critically ill children.

    Keywords: fecal microbiota transplantation, Sepsis, microbiota, antibiotics, mouse model, pediatric

    Received: 19 Jun 2024; Accepted: 23 Sep 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Han, Kim, Shin, Kim and Park. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: June Dong Park, College of Medicine, Seoul National University, Seoul, 03080, Seoul, Republic of Korea

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.