Investigating the Alleviating Effects of Bacillus cereus Administration on Colitis through Gut Microbiota Modulation

Summary

Here, we present a protocol to establish the antibiotic-induced pseudo-germ-free dextran sulfate sodium-induced colitis mouse model to investigate the role of gut microbiota in regulating the positive effects of Bacillus cereus on colitis.

Abstract

Gut microbiota dysbiosis is thought to exert a role in the progression of colitis. However, the precise standards for probiotic administration in alleviating colitis remain undefined. Most analysis methods rely on limited diversity and abundance of gut microorganisms. Therefore, observational studies cannot establish causation. In this study, we applied antibiotic-induced pseudo-germ-free mice to investigate the role of gut microbiota in regulating the probiotic effects of Bacillus cereus (B. cereus) on dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced colitis in mice. This process allows for evaluating the bidirectional regulating effect of B. cereus supplementation on health and provides stable and reproducible results. Here, the detailed protocols for B. cereus cultivation, gavage operation, stool collection, and antibiotic clearance treatment on colitis mice are provided. The optimization methods are also applicable for other chronic inflammatory-associated disorders. The results showed that B. cereus administration decreased body weight loss, colon length shortening, disease activity index, and histopathological scores. However, treatment with antibiotics suppressed the positive effect of B. cereus on colitis. These results indicate that gut microbiota are needed for the alleviating effects of B. cereus on colitis. Therefore, exploring the beneficial effects of probiotics in this research is a promising approach for developing novel treatment strategies for alleviating the symptoms of chronic inflammatory-associated disorders.

Introduction

Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs) are common chronic gastrointestinal inflammatory disorders, including Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis (UC)¹. The current therapeutic avenues for inflammatory colitis are 5-aminosalicylates, corticosteroids, azathioprine, and antibiotics². Moreover, these drugs have considerable side effects³. Therefore, we should pay more attention to the effect of probiotics on the treatment of colitis.

Alternative therapeutic approaches include probiotic administration, which has been used in animal models and clinical trials. Previous stu....

Protocol

All procedures were carried out in accordance with the Guidelines for Care and Use of Laboratory Animals of Anhui University, China, and all procedures were approved by the Animal Ethics Committee of Anhui University, China (No. IACUC(AHU)-2020-014).

1. Administration of antibiotics

1. Prepare a cocktail of antibiotics by dissolving ampicillin (1 g/L), neomycin sulfate (1 g/L), metronidazole (0.5 g/L), and vancomycin (0.5 g/L) in 1 L of drinking water

Discussion

In order to use probiotics in clinical studies, it is necessary to evaluate the efficacy and safety of probiotics in animal models. The provided protocols have been previously optimized for evaluating colitis severity. Mice treated with DSS is a model of intestinal inflammation, which mimics the clinical and histological features characteristic of ulcerative colitis¹². Acute colitis model mice are characterized by body weight loss, diarrhea, fecal bleeding, and inflammatory cell infiltration

Materials

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
0.01 M PBS (powder, pH7.2–7.4)	Solarbio	P1010-2L
Absolute ethyl alcohol	Hushi	64-17-5
Acid alcohol fsat differentiation solution	Beyotime	No.C0163S
Agar	Sangon Biotech	9002-18-0
Ampicillin	Solarbio	69-53-4	Store at 2–8 °C
Anaerobic incubator	Long Yue	LA1-3T
Dextran sulfate sodium salt colitis grade	MP Biomedicals	160110
Electrothermal incubator	SANFA	HP-050A
General purpose tissue fixator	biosharp	BL539A
Glycerinum	Hushi	56-81-5
Hematoxylin and eosin staining kit	Beyotime	No.C0105
Kisser's Mounting Medium	Beyotime	No.C0181
Metronidazole	Solarbio	443-48-1	Store at 2–8 °C
Neomyein sulfate	Solarbio	1405-10-3	Store at 2–8 °C
Oscillating incubator	Shanghai Zhichu	ZQLY-180S
Sodium chloride	Sangon Biotech	7647-14-5
Stool occult blood test paper	Baso	BA2020B
Tryptone	OXOID	2285856
Vancomycin	Solarbio	1404-93-9	Store at 2–8 °C
Xylene	Hushi	1330-20-7
Yeast extract	Sangon Biotech	8013-01-2