Neonatal antibiotics have long term sex‐dependent effects on the enteric nervous system

Abstract

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Postnatal 14D is the Key Window for Mice Intestinal Development‐ An Insight from Age‐Dependent Antibiotic‐Mediated Gut Microbial Dysbiosis Study

“…But biological sex is one of the significant confounders in microbiome studies, as antibiotic perturbation has a differential sex-dependent effect. [79] Second, although the trend of intestinal development is similar in humans and mice, the structural maturation of the murine gut is completed only after birth, contrary to [61,80] Third, we must sacrifice mice after a short period of transplantation, which could be one reason behind the divergent colonization pattern and partial microbiota recovery. Lastly, even though antibiotic perturbation offers much more flexibility than germ-free mice, we cannot confirm specific microbiota function without the mono-colonization into germfree mice.…”

The sex‐dependent and lasting effects of neonatal antibiotic exposure: a gut wrenching truth

“…Poon et al. (2022) also strategically housed vancomycin‐treated mice separate from control mice. This ensured that co‐caged mice did not experience altered intestinal flora via corpography, ultimately enhancing the robustness of the data.…”

“…Poon et al. (2022) observed a significantly slower total GI transit in adolescent female mice treated with vancomycin, but not in males, suggesting sexual dimorphic predisposition to constipation. Faecal dry weights were also significantly lower in vancomycin male mice compared to controls, and faecal water percentage in both vancomycin‐treated male and female neonatal mice was greater compared to controls, which is indicative of diarrhoea.…”

“…Poon et al. (2022) effectively conveyed the lasting impact of early‐life antibiotic exposure on the gut and ENS through the treatment of neonatal mice with vancomycin for the first 10 days of life, followed by mouse gut assessment in early adulthood. The authors observed that female mice treated neonatally with antibiotics experienced lengthened whole gut transit times, and all mice irrespective of sex had significantly wetter stools.…”

Same hit, different gut punches

“…A study by Poon et al (2022) in this issue of The Journal of Physiology is important in this context, as it asks the question of whether and how antibiotic-mediated intestinal dysbiosis during early post-natal life alters the biology of the intestinal epithelium and the enteric nervous system (ENS), two important gut tissues that regulate significant gastrointestinal biology, in a sex-specific manner to cause dysfunction observed in DGBI patients. By dosing neonatal mice with the antibiotic vancomycin, Poon et al studied whether this specific early life stress caused sex-specific persistent changes in intestinal microbiota and in the host's biology to cause gastrointestinal dysfunction later in adult life.…”