Intermittent Hypoxia and Hypercapnia Reproducibly Change the Gut Microbiome and Metabolome across Rodent Model Systems

Abstract

Reproducibility of microbiome research is a major topic of contemporary interest. Although it is often possible to distinguish individuals with specific diseases within a study, the differences are often inconsistent across cohorts, often due to systematic variation in analytical conditions. Here we study the same intervention in two different mouse models of cardiovascular disease (atherosclerosis) by profiling the microbiome and metabolome in stool specimens over time. We demonstrate that shared microbial and metabolic changes are involved in both models with the intervention. We then introduce a pipeline for finding similar results in other studies. This work will help find common features identified across different model systems that are most likely to apply in humans.