Abstract
Infectious diarrhea is one of the most important health problems worldwide. Although nutritional status influences the clinical manifestation of various enteric pathogen infections, the effect of diet on enteric infectious diseases remains unclear. Using a fatal infectious diarrheal model, we found that an amino acid-based diet (AD) protected susceptible mice infected with the enteric pathogen Citrobacter rodentium. While the mice fed other diets, including a regular diet, were highly susceptible to C. rodentium infection, AD-fed mice had an increased survival rate. An AD did not suppress C. rodentium colonization or intestinal damage; instead, it prevented diarrhea-induced dehydration by increasing water intake. An AD altered the plasma and fecal amino acid levels and changed the gut microbiota composition. Treatment with glutamate, whose level was increased in the plasma and feces of AD-fed mice, promoted water intake and improved the survival of C. rodentium-infected mice. Thus, an AD changes the systemic amino acid balance and protects against lethal infectious diarrhea by maintaining total body water content.
Highlights
To assess the impact of diets on lethal infectious diarrhea, acid-based diet (AD), fat diet (FD), purified diet (PD), and regular natural diet (RD)-fed mice were infected with C. rodentium, and their survival was monitored over time
Since only the protein sources of the PD and AD differed, we focused on PD and AD-fed mice
AD-fed mice had a higher water intake than PD-fed mice, the amount of food consumed was not different (Figure 3C,D). These results indicate that an AD promotes water intake, which protects the mice from C. rodentium infection-induced dehydration and death
Summary
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. The World Health Organization defines diarrhea as the passage of three or more loose or liquid stools per day (or more frequent passage than is normal for the individual). Acute diarrheal illness is presently one of the most important health problems worldwide, in young children in developing countries. Bacterial infectious diarrhea is the most prevalent diarrheal disease worldwide [1,2,3,4]. Reported enteric bacterial diarrhea and causative agents include Escherichia coli gastroenteritis, Salmonellosis
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