Scientific Reports (Feb 2021)

High engraftment capacity of frozen ready-to-use human fecal microbiota transplants assessed in germ-free mice

  • Magali Berland,
  • Julie Cadiou,
  • Florence Levenez,
  • Nathalie Galleron,
  • Benoît Quinquis,
  • Florence Thirion,
  • Franck Gauthier,
  • Emmanuelle Le Chatelier,
  • Florian Plaza Oñate,
  • Carole Schwintner,
  • Sylvie Rabot,
  • Patricia Lepage,
  • Dusko Ehrlich,
  • Joël Doré,
  • Catherine Juste

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-83638-7
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 11, no. 1
pp. 1 – 10

Abstract

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Abstract The number of indications for fecal microbiota transplantation is expected to rise, thus increasing the needs for production of readily available frozen or freeze-dried transplants. Using shotgun metagenomics, we investigated the capacity of two novel human fecal microbiota transplants prepared in maltodextrin-trehalose solutions (abbreviated MD and TR for maltodextrin:trehalose, 3:1, w/w, and trehalose:maltodextrin 3:1, w/w, respectively), to colonize a germ-free born mouse model. Gavage with frozen-thawed MD or TR suspensions gave the taxonomic profiles of mouse feces that best resembled those obtained with the fresh inoculum (Spearman correlations based on relative abundances of metagenomic species around 0.80 and 0.75 for MD and TR respectively), while engraftment capacity of defrosted NaCl transplants most diverged (Spearman correlations around 0.63). Engraftment of members of the family Lachnospiraceae and Ruminoccocaceae was the most challenging in all groups of mice, being improved with MD and TR transplants compared to NaCl, but still lower than with the fresh preparation. Improvement of engraftment of this important group in maintaining health represents a challenge that could benefit from further research on fecal microbiota transplant manufacturing.