Alternative antibiotic regimens improve palatability and welfare in mice for gut bacterial depletion
File(s)
Published online version
Author(s)
Li, Jia
Abaakil, Kaoutar
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Here we evaluated vancomycin–neomycin or enrofloxacin–ampicillin treatments as alternatives to the poorly tolerated ampicillin–metronidazole–vancomycin–neomycin cocktail for gut bacterial depletion in mice. Both regimens were well tolerated in drinking water and did not reduce food intake or body weight. Metabolic profiling showed reduced bacterial metabolic activity in both groups, but a marked reduction in total bacterial abundance only in the enrofloxacin–ampicillin group. These findings support enrofloxacin–ampicillin as a refined antibiotic strategy for gut bacterial depletion, improving palatability and welfare.
Date Issued
2026-05-11
Date Acceptance
2026-04-01
Citation
Lab Animal, 2026
ISSN
0093-7355
Publisher
Nature Research
Journal / Book Title
Lab Animal
Copyright Statement
© The Author(s) 2026. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
License URL
Identifier
10.1038/s41684-026-01728-3
Publication Status
Published online
Date Publish Online
2026-05-11