Bacillus coagulans GBI-30, 6086 limits the recurrence of Clostridium difficile-Induced colitis following vancomycin withdrawal in mice

Abstract

Background: Recently, we found that the probiotic strainBacillus coagulansGBI-30, 6086 (GanedenBC³⁰) improved indices ofClostridium difficile (C. difficile)-induced colitis in mice (Fitzpatrick et al.,Gut Pathogens, 2011). Our goal was to determine if BC30 could also prevent the recurrence ofC. difficile-induced colitis in mice, following initial treatment with vancomycin. During study days 0 through 5, mice were treated with antibiotics. On day 6, theC. difficilestrain VPI 10463 was given by oro-gastric gavage at ≈ 5x10⁴CFU to induce colitis. Mice were treated on study days 6 to 10 with vancomycin (50 mg/kg) (vanco) or vehicle (saline) by gavage. On days 10 to16, mice were dosed by gavage with saline vehicle or BC30 (2 x 10⁹CFU per day). Mice were monitored for mortality, weight loss and diarrhea. On study days 14, 16 and 17, stools and colons were collected for analyzing other parameters of colitis.Results: The mean stool consistency score in Vehicle/C.difficile/Vanco mice increased from 0.4 (day 10) to a range of 1.1 to 1.4 (days 14 to 17), indicating the recurrence of colitis. On days 13 through 17, the stool consistency scores for the vancomycin/BC30 mice were significantly lower (p< 0.05) than for the vancomycin/vehicle cohort of animals. On day 17, 88.9% of mice treated with BC30 had normal stools, while this value was 0% with vehicle treatment (p value = 0.0004). Colonic myeloperoxidase (Units/2 cm colon) was significantly (p < 0.05) reduced from 4.3 ± 0.7 (Vehicle/C.difficile/Vanco) to 2.6 ± 0.2 (BC30/C. Difficle/Vanco). The colonic histology score and Keratinocyte derived-chemokine level in the colon were also lower in BC30 treated mice.Summary: In BC30-treated mice, there was evidence of better stool consistency, as well as improved biochemical and histological indices of colitis, following initial treatment of animals with vancomycin.Conclusion: BC30 limited the recurrence ofCD-induced colitis following vancomycin withdrawal in mice.