Figure 8. Recombinant neutrophil elastase treatment causes changes in the gut microbiota composition in the absence of infection.

Six- to eight-week-old female mice were treated with 450 mg/L of streptomycin for 2 days in their drinking water. After antibiotic withdrawal recombinant neutrophil elastase was given both orally and intraperitoneally every day for 4 days. Fecal samples were collected at day 4 post treatment. A) 454 pyrosequencing reads were analyzed by cluster analysis using Bray-Curtis metrics of microbial profiles. B) Heat map showing relative abundance of different OTU groups.