Effects of Debaryomyces hansenii treatment on intestinal microorganisms in mice with antibiotics-induced diarrhea

To investigate the influence of Debaryomyces hansenii treatment on intestinal microorganisms in mice with antibiotics-induced diarrhea, mouse model of antibiotics-induced diarrhea was created by gavaging mice with mixed antibiotics (23.33 mL/kg/days) composed of gentamycin sulfate and cefradine for 5 days. Mice with the symptom of diarrhea were then treated with D. hansenii by intragastric administration. The control group mice were given with sterile water. After 4 day treatment, total DNA of intestinal microflora of treated and control mice was extracted, and their quantities were measured by sequencing the V4 region of 16S rDNA. The results showed that when compared to the control (sterile water), treatment with D. hansenii increased the operational taxonomic units (OTUs) of intestinal bacteria. The Chao index in diarrhea treated group was higher than diarrhea control group and was similar to healthy control group, while all differences had no significance (P > 0.05). D. hansenii treatment increased the Shannon index but not significantly (P > 0.05). Moreover, there was not significant impact on density and diversity of intestinal bacterial population at phylum and genus levels (P > 0.05). Interestingly, D. hansenii treatment recovered the population density of certain bacterium species, such as Bacteroidaceae (in family level) (P < 0.05). Our results indicate that D. hansenii has potency of adjusting the density and diversity of intestinal bacteria and recovering the population density of Bacteroidaceae in family level.