The effects of Bifidobacterium on the gut microbiome of macaques with chronic diarrhea

Abstract:

Macaca mulatta, as the most important non-human primate model animal, is widely used in biomedical research, so there are a large number of captive populations in the country. Diarrhea is more common in captive populations and is extremely harmful to macaques, especially juvenile macaques. Based on the changes in intestinal microbial composition, function and drug resistance of macaques with diarrhea, this study combined high-throughput sequencing technology and plate counting to explore the effect of adding active Bifidobacterium to the feed on the intestinal microbial diversity of macaques with chronic diarrhea and the improvement of diarrhea symptoms. Firstly, we performed 16S rRNA sequencing through a comparative analysis of the composition of the flora on the feed with and without Bifidobacterium added. We found that the relative abundance of Bifidobacterium in the feed added to Bifidobacteria was significantly increased compared with that of the unaddressed feed group (P<0.05). Then, by using diet with Bifidobacterium added to the chronic diarrhea macaques for one month for adjuvant treatment, the diarrhea symptoms were found to be significantly better than those in the unaddressed group. The feces of the chronic diarrhea macaques in the added group were collected for metagenomic sequencing, and the intestinal metagenomic data of the chronic diarrhea macaques and healthy macaques in the unaddressed group were compared with the intestinal metagenomic data of the unaddressed group of chronic diarrhea macaques and healthy macaques, and the relative abundance of Lactobacillus in the intestinal flora of the added diarrhea macaque was significantly upregulated compared with that of the unrestricted group (P>0.05). There was no significant difference from the healthy group (P>0.05). Finally, the Lactobacillus plate counting experiment was carried out on the macaques who improved after feeding Bifidobacterium and the macaques with persistent diarrhea. It was found that the number of Lactobacillus macaques with improved diarrhea after feeding Bifidobacterium was higher than that in the continuous diarrhea group, which verified the results of metagenomic sequencing analysis. The above results show that the level of Lactobacillus in the intestinal flora of the diarrhea macaque monkey after feeding Bifidobacterium is elevated, and the intestinal flora structure is restored to a healthy level, which is conducive to the improvement of diarrhea symptoms. This study provides data support for captive macaques in the adjuvant treatment of diarrheal diseases by using probiotic feeding to modulate gut microbes.