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Page 42
3
rd
International Congress on
Annual Summit on
October 02-03, 2017 Atlanta,USA
&
Microbiology and Pharmaceutical Microbiology
Sexual & Reproductive Health
Journal of sexual and Reproductive medicine | Volume.1, Issue.2
Effect of antibiotic administration during infancy on growth curves through young
adulthood in Rhesus macaques (
Macaca mulatta
)
Heather M Sidener
1
, Byung Park
2
and
Lina Gao
2
1
Oregon National Primate Research Center, Oregon
2
Oregon Health and Sciences University, Oregon
R
ecent human studies indicate a possible correlation between the administration of antibiotics during early
life and the risk of later obesity, potentially due to antibiotic-induced alteration of the gastrointestinal
microbiome. In humans, the risk of obesity increases with multiple courses of antibiotics and when fetuses or
infants are treated with broad-spectrum and macrolide antibiotics. In addition, the obesity risk in humans seems
higher for males than females. We used a retrospective, case-control, matched-pair study design to evaluate health
records for 99 control-matched pairs of rhesus macaques (
Macaca mulatta
) from an outdoor breeding colony. We
hypothesized that NHP treated with antibiotics prior to 6 months of age would have steeper growth curves than
those who were not. However, in contrast to prior research with humans and mice, growth curves did not differ
between antibiotic-treated and control animals. Differences between humans and NHP may have influenced this
outcome, including the relative standardization of NHP environmental factors and diet compared with those
of human populations, types of infections encountered in infancy and choice of antibiotic treatment, and the
different relative maturity at 6 months of age in the 2 species. The results provide support for current standard
medical practice in NHP and highlight a difference between macaques and humans that may influence future
obesity research using macaques. Determining the basis for this difference might improve our understanding of
the risks of early life antibiotic treatment and suggest mitigation strategies for treating infant illnesses without
risking obesity.
sidener@ohsu.edu