Establishment of the methodology of fecal microbiota transplantation in dogs

2021 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19K15986
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Basic Section 42020:Veterinary medical science-related
• Research Institution: Azabu University
• Principal Investigator: Igarashi Hirotaka 麻布大学, 獣医学部, 講師 (20758172)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-04-01 – 2022-03-31
• Keywords: 糞便細菌叢移植 / 腸内細菌叢 / 慢性腸炎 / 犬 / プロトコール

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Fecal microbiota transplantation is a novel procedure for the treatment of gastrointestinal diseases. To date, no reports have evaluated the validity of FMT in veterinary medicine, although several reports of dogs received FMT had been documented. Therefore, this study aimed to establish an evidence of FMT protocol in dogs.
Comparison of the weighted unifrac distance between donor and each recipient revealed that the microbiome of dogs with oral-FMT showed the decrease of the distance after 1 week of FMT, and then returned to the baseline level at 2 weeks after the FMT. In contrast, the distance of dogs with rectal-FMT showed a tendency to increase after 1 week of FMT, and then recovered to the baseline level at 2 weeks after the FMT.
These results suggest that the oral administration of donor feces could have an equivalent or superior effect on the recipient's microbiome compared with rectal-administration method.

Free Research Field

獣医内科学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究により、犬におけるFMT療法の安全性および経口投与法の有用性が明らかとなった。今後、ドナー糞便の処理方法や投与回数などについても検討を進めることでFMTの実施プロトコールが確立されれば、臨床症例に対する治験が飛躍的に進められると予想される。さらに、本研究やその後の臨床試験によって得られた知見は、まだ研究段階である医学領域でのFMTの実施プロトコールの確立や適応疾患の選別に対しても貢献することが期待できる。