Monitoring of Antibiotic-Induced Alterations in the Human Intestinal Microflora and Detection of Probiotic Strains by Use of Terminal Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism

• Published in: APPLIED AND ENVIRONMENTAL MICROBIOLOGY Vol. 71; no. 1; pp. 501 - 506
• Main Authors: Jernberg, Cecilia, Sullivan, Åsa, Edlund, Charlotta, Jansson, Janet K
• Format: Journal Article Publication
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Society for Microbiology 2005
• Subjects: analysis; Anti-Bacterial Agents; Anti-Bacterial Agents - pharmacology; Bacteria; Bacteria - classification; Bacteria - genetics; Bacteria - growth & development; Bacteria - isolation & purification; Bacteriology; Biological and medical sciences; classification; clindamycin; Clindamycin - pharmacology; Colony Count, Microbial; community structure; DNA Fingerprinting; DNA Fingerprinting - methods; DNA, Bacterial; DNA, Bacterial - analysis; drug effects; Eubacterium; Eubacterium - genetics; Eubacterium - isolation & purification; feces; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; genetics; growth & development; Humans; ingestion; Intestines; Intestines - drug effects; Intestines - microbiology; isolation & purification; Lactobacillus; Lactobacillus - genetics; Lactobacillus - isolation & purification; methods; microbial communities; Microbiology; monitoring; Pathogenicity, virulence, toxins, bacteriocins, pyrogens, host-bacteria relations, miscellaneous strains; pharmacology; placebos; Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length; Probiotics; Public Health Microbiology; restriction fragment length polymorphism; volunteers; Human; Probiotic; Lactic acid bacteria; Antibiotic; Restriction fragment length polymorphism; Gut; Bacteria; Lactobacillaceae; Microflora; Detection; Lactobacillus
• DOI: 10.1128/AEM.71.1.501-506.2005
• ISSN: 0099-2240; 1098-5336

Terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) was investigated as a tool for monitoring the human intestinal microflora during antibiotic treatment and during ingestion of a probiotic product. Fecal samples from eight healthy volunteers were taken before, during, and after administration of clindamycin. During treatment, four subjects were given a probiotic, and four subjects were given a placebo. Changes in the microbial intestinal community composition and relative abundance of specific microbial populations in each subject were monitored by using viable counts and T-RFLP fingerprints. T-RFLP was also used to monitor specific bacterial populations that were either positively or negatively affected by clindamycin. Some dominant bacterial groups, such as Eubacterium spp., were easily monitored by T-RFLP, while they were hard to recover by cultivation. Furthermore, the two probiotic Lactobacillus strains were easily tracked by T-RFLP and were shown to be the dominant Lactobacillus community members in the intestinal microflora of subjects who received the probiotic.