AUTHOR=D'Amico Francesco , Bertacco Alessandra , Finotti Michele , Di Renzo Chiara , Rodriguez-Davalos Manuel I. , Gondolesi Gabriel E. , Cillo Umberto , Mulligan David , Geibel John 

TITLE=Bile Microbiota in Liver Transplantation: Proof of Concept Using Gene Amplification in a Heterogeneous Clinical Scenario

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Surgery

VOLUME=8

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/surgery/articles/10.3389/fsurg.2021.621525

DOI=10.3389/fsurg.2021.621525

ISSN=2296-875X

ABSTRACT=<p><bold>Objective:</bold> Historically, bile in the biliary tract has been considered sterile. Most of the series are based on patients with biliary tract diseases or the bile has been obtained with procedures susceptible to contamination.</p><p><bold>Methods:</bold> We evaluated the bile in a heterogeneous cohort of liver donors and recipient patients, with samples obtained in a sterile way, directly from the gallbladder and the common bile duct.</p><p><bold>Results:</bold> We assessed the bile microbiota in six liver donors and in six liver recipients after whole or split liver procedures in adult or pediatric recipients. Bile samples were studied using PCR sequencing of the 16S ribosomal RNA gene amplification (rDNA).</p><p><bold>Conclusions:</bold> We demonstrated that the bile is sterile, thereby ruling this out as a source of contamination following transplant.</p>