Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Burn Injury Alters The Intestinal Microbiome And Increases Gut Permeability And Bacterial Translocation, Zachary M. Earley, Suhail Akhtar, Stefan J. Green, Ankur Naqib, Omair Khan '15, Abigail R. Cannon, Adam M. Hammer, Niya L. Morris, Xiaoling Li, Joshua M. Eberhardt, Richard L. Gamelli, Richard H. Kennedy, Mashkoor A. Choudhry

Student Publications & Research

Sepsis remains one of the leading causes of death in burn patients who survive the initial insult of injury. Disruption of the intestinal epithelial barrier has been shown after burn injury; this can lead to the translocation of bacteria or their products (e.g., endotoxin) from the intestinal lumen to the circulation, thereby increasing the risk for sepsis in immunocompromised individuals. Since the maintenance of the epithelial barrier is largely dependent on the intestinal microbiota, we examined the diversity of the intestinal microbiome of severely burned patients and a controlled mouse model of burn injury. We show that burn injury induces …