Fig. 1

Oral antibiotics significantly reduce the gut bacterial load. a Four groups of wild-type C57BL/6J female mice were treated with pair-fed diet (PF; n = 5), 5% alcohol diet (EtOH; n = 10), oral antibiotics (Abx) with PF (n = 6), or Abx with EtOH (n = 9). An acute sugar or alcohol binge was given 9 h before sacrifice. b Serum endotoxin was measured at sacrifice to determine translocation of gut bacterial products into systemic circulation. c DNA was isolated from the stool of PF and EtOH mice before sacrifice, and 16S DNA was measured by qPCR using universal 16S primers. d The PCR products from c were run on an agarose gel for a general comparison of the four groups. e Stools were resuspended in thioglycolate and plated on non-selective agar to measure gut bacterial load prior to antibiotic treatment (untreated), after 5 days of Abx treatment (Abx day 5), and at the end of the experiment (Abx day 15). f Colony-forming units (CFUs) were quantified from stool extracted at sacrifice on day 15. Data are mean ± SEM, n = 5–10 mice/group. *p < 0.05; n.s., not significant