Maternal Lactobacillus reuteri supplementation shifts the intestinal microbiome in mice and provides protection from experimental colitis in female offspring

The purpose of our experiment was to explore how stochastic (inter-individual variation) gut microbiome composition may link to inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) susceptibility and guide the development of a perinatal preventative probiotic. Dextran sodium sulfate (DSS) was introduced to C57BL/BJ mice to induce acute colitis as a model of IBD. Potentially protective bacteria were identified using a discovery-validation cohort approach toward stochastic DSS susceptibility. Lactobacilli (two different cocktails of L. reuteri and L. johnsonii strains) or control media were supplemented by mouth to dams prior to delivery and during lactation (i.e., perinatal probiotic). The pups were evaluated for DSS susceptibility at young adulthood. Fecal Lactobacillus was increased in the DSS-resistant mice in both the discovery and validation cohorts. Maternal supplementation of female offspring with an L. reuteri cocktail (strains 6798-1, 6798-jm, and 6798-cm) induced progressive microbiome separation and protection against colitis by young adulthood. Maternal supplementation of L. reuteri could confer protection against DSS colitis in young adult female mice. This work is the first to exploit stochastic mammalian microbiome variation to guide microbial therapeutic identification. Our findings underscore neonatal microbiome plasticity and set the stage for the potential development of perinatally deliverable protective probiotics against human IBD.