Figure 4.

HBO potentiates antibiotic-associated dysbiosis and impairs intestinal SCFA levels. (a) experimental outline detailing the treatment of mice with oral antibiotics and concurrent hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) therapy before fecal 16S rDNA sequencing. (b) microbiome β-diversity analysis based on the Bray-Curtis dissimilarity ratio, represented by a principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) plot. N = 5. (c) bar plots depicting 16S rDNA gene reads assigned to taxonomy at the bacterial phylum level in fecal samples from normoxic or HBO-treated mice following antibiotic treatment. N = 5, with individual plots available in fig. S6d. (d) linear discriminant analysis effect size (LEfSe) results, visualized as an effect size (LDA score) bar plot, aiding in the identification of discriminative taxa between experimental groups. N = 5. (e) taxonomic bar plots at the genus level for normoxic and HBO-treated mouse fecal samples after antibiotic treatment. N = 5. Individual plots are detailed in fig. S6e. (f) prediction of metagenomic functional content using phylogenetic investigation of communities by Reconstruction of Unobserved States (PICRUSt2) based on marker gene sequences. N = 5. (g) experimental scheme illustrating antibiotic treatment and subsequent C. difficile infection (CDI) after HBO therapy. (h) quantification of luminal short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) levels by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) in the proximal colon of HBO-infected mice. Sample size N = 4–5. GC-MS data are representative of at least two independent experiments and are presented as the mean ± SEM.