ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Immunol.
Sec. Mucosal Immunity
This article is part of the Research TopicThe Role of Gut Microbiota in Animal Gastrointestinal Diseases Volume IIView all 3 articles
Antibiotics administration during weaning ameliorates intestinal mucosal inflammation in adult mice and their offspring
Provisionally accepted
Junyang Cao1,2
Zhanjun Lu3Xiulong Xia2Fengwanni Wang2
Changqin Liu4
Wenqing Zhou5
Zhanju Liu4*
Jiali Deng1*
Xiaoming Hu2,6*- 1School of Life Science, Shanghai University, Shanghai, China
- 2Health Science Center, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China
- 3Department of Gastroenterology, Shanghai General Hospital, Shanghai, China
- 4Shanghai Tenth People's Hospital Department of Gastroenterology, Shanghai, China
- 5Department of General surgery, The Fifth People's Hospital of Wujiang District, Suzhou, China
- 6Chongqing Key Laboratory of Precision Optics, Chongqing Institute of East China Normal University, Chongqing, China
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Background and aims Antibiotic use in early life is increasingly being scrutinized for its potential effects on health, particularly its association with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The weaning period is a critical developmental window for maturation of the intestinal barrier, immune system and gut microbiota. However, it remains unknown how administering antibiotics to male mice starting at weaning affects the susceptibility of their future offspring to IBD. Methods Three-week-old weaned male mice were used to investigate the effects of short-term (1 week) and long-term (6 weeks) administration with ampicillin and cefixime on colitis susceptibility in adulthood and in the subsequent F1 generation. Paternal and F1 offspring were administered dextran sodium sulfate (DSS) to induce colitis. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction, immunoblotting, immunofluorescence staining, and histological examination were used to assess mRNA and protein expression and morphological changes. Full 16S rRNA and miRNA sequencing was used to assess changes in the gut microbiota compositions and the mechanisms of intergenerational transmission of intestinal phenotypes. A dual-luciferase reporter assay was used to decipher the direct regulation of miR-10b-5p and miR-200b-3p on Occludin 3′ UTR. Results
Keywords: antibiotic, Colitis, miRNAs, Occludin, offspring
Received: 01 Dec 2025; Accepted: 09 Feb 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Cao, Lu, Xia, Wang, Liu, Zhou, Liu, Deng and Hu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Zhanju Liu
Jiali Deng
Xiaoming Hu
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