Fig. 2

H. diminuta preservation of the gut microbiota in DNBS-treated mice is overcome by broad-spectrum antibiotic treatment (ABX). Male BALB/c mice were treated as shown in Fig. 1A (5 cysticercoids of H. diminuta (H. dim) 8 days prior to di-nitrobenzene sulphonic acid (DNBS; 3 mg, ir) with necropsy 3 days later ± ABX) and colon-associated bacteria assessed by 16s rRNA sequence analysis. A Reduced Shannon index (α-diversity) caused by DNBS-colitis was significantly prevented by H. diminuta-infection, while ABX-treatment, independent of DNBS or H. diminuta had the greatest impact on α-diversity. B β-diversity (PCoA; Weighted UniFrac distance) reveals separation of the groups with control and H. dim+DNBS clustering away from DNBS-only treated mice and characterized by increased ASVs for Lachnospiraceae, Clostridales, and Clostridium-XIVa (C). D–F UniFrac distance and relative abundance analyses show the impact of ABX on colonic microbiota of DNBS ± H. diminuta-treated mice. (ABX, antibiotic cocktail in drinking water ad libitum, kanamycin (40 mg/L), gentamicin (3.5 mg/L), colistin (4.2 mg/L), metronidazole (21.5 mg/L), and ip. vancomycin (van) at 200 μL of 0.5 mg/mL; panel A: Pmx/Neo, polymyxin B (1 g/L) and neomycin (500 mg/L) in drinking water; horizontal line, median; black diamond, mean; box plots, 25–75% quartiles; vertical line, minimum and maximum value; Mann-Whitney U test; see suppl. Fig. 3A and D for treatment protocol)