ARE ALL GUTS CREATED EQUAL?

Sex may be an important factor in antibiotic therapy.

Antibiotics have sex-specific effects on the gut microbiome of male and female laboratory animals, according to Cedars-Sinai research. The findings, published in Frontiers in Microbiology, have implications for how such drugs are used in humans to treat or prevent bacterial infections.

“Interestingly, male and female rats respond differently to antibiotics during treatment, and their microbiome also showed different patterns of recovery after treatment,” says endocrinologist Ruchi Mathur, MD, the study’s principal author.

Investigators from CedarsSinai’s Medically Associated Science and Technology (MAST) Program compared the gut microbiome composition of male and female rats before, during and after treatment with broad-spectrum antibiotics.

“These results show that sex is a variable that might be an important consideration when prescribing antibiotic therapy,” explains MAST Director Mark Pimentel, MD, co-author of the study.