Gut redox potential affects host susceptibility to pathogen infection

Redox potential is a key environmental indicator in the gut and also significantly affects host health. To study the influence of gut redox potential on the infection of hosts by pathogen, we employed zebrafish and common carp as animal models to investigate the relationship between gut redox potential and host susceptibility. Our results proved that gut redox potential was significantly elevated after host infection with pathogenic bacteria. More-over, the level of reactive oxygen species (ROS) was significantly and positively correlated with gut redox po-tential. Reduction of the gut redox potential with antioxidants significantly improved host resistance to pathogen infections. In addition, when the host was infected with pathogen, the reduction of gut redox potential could improve survival. Interestingly, the combination of antioxidants and low concentrations of antibiotics could achieve a similar therapeutic effect to that of a single high concentration of antibiotics by reducing the gut redox potential. Overall, this study proved that altered redox potential could aid in the host resistance to infection, and also provides new perspectives for the treatment of pathogen infections.

Automated summary

Redox potential in the gut is an important indicator for the environment and health of the host. This study used zebrafish and common carp models to investigate the influence of gut redox potential on host susceptibility to pathogen infections. The results showed that gut redox potential increased significantly after host infection with pathogenic bacteria, and the level of reactive oxygen species (ROS) was positively correlated with gut redox potential. Reduction of gut redox potential with antioxidants improved host resistance to pathogen infections, and the combination of antioxidants and low concentrations of antibiotics achieved a similar therapeutic effect to high concentrations of antibiotics. This study highlights the importance of altered redox potential in host resistance to infection and suggests new perspectives for the treatment of pathogen infections.