The Microbiota & Immune System (22)

Question 1

Why are microbiota important for you to appreciate?

Answer 1

antibiotics treatments destroy both good and bad bacteria in the microbiome
overuse of antibiotics causes antibiotic-resistant bacteria

Question 2

What surfaces are populated with helpful microbes?

Answer 2

skin
respiratory tract
parts of genitourinary tract
within the GI tract

Question 3

What are the normal flora?

Answer 3

anaerobiasis
lysozyme
defensins
proteases
diarrhea

Question 4

What influences health?

Answer 4

born with it
acquire it
facts of life

Question 5

How are microorganisms beneficial? Pathogenic?

Answer 5

beneficial: educating the immune system and inhibiting the growth of pathogenic organisms
pathogenic: producing disease in affected tissues

Question 6

Which organ is essential for microbes?

Answer 6

the skin

Question 7

What is atopic dermatitis?

Answer 7

one of the most common skin infections in dogs
dogs that do develop atopic dermatitis have an increased sensitivity to many allergens

Question 8

What role does the skin microbiota play in immunocompetency?

Answer 8

normal skin microbiota is necessary for modulating the innate immune response and preventing colonization

Question 9

PAMPs (mycoplasma, yeasts, staphylococcus sp.) can cause a mutation in ______ that leads to which consequences?

Answer 9

toll-like receptors
TLR-2 mutation
atopic dermatitis

Question 9

The [upper/lower] respiratory tract houses a dense and complex microbiota

Answer 9

upper

Question 10

What does the airway microbiota play a role in?

Answer 10

resistance to respiratory infections as well as the development of asthma and probably chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Question 11

What role does the respiratory microbiota play in immunocompetency?

Answer 11

induces Treg activity that suppresses

Question 12

In the absence of microbiota in the respiratory tract, what happens?

Answer 12

the airways are prone to mount exaggerated TH2 responses

Question 13

How does the genitourinary/reproductive tracts contribute to microbiome control?

Answer 13

protection via lactic-acid producing bacteria and lining of squamous cells rich in glycogen source for lactobacilli

Question 14

What role does the urogenital microbiota play in immunocompetency?

Answer 14

not yet fully understood

Question 15

What in ruminants contributes to the gastrointestinal tract?

Answer 15

the rumen - chemistry can be changed when we have different bacteria that start colonizing the bacteria

Question 16

What are the functions of the microbiota?

Answer 16

nutritional efficiency
intestinal protection
development of lymphoid organs
microbiota signals to the body
butyrate and others

Question 17

At birth, the digestive tract is ______

Answer 17

sterile

Question 18

Why do foals eat their mother’s manure?

Answer 18

establish/replenish their digestive flora
promotes a healthy life
other species do too - rabbits, koalas, etc

Question 19

When is a canulated/fistulated cow needed?

Answer 19

used as a source of microbiota to transfer to another cow that is sick = microbiome restorative therapy

Question 20

What is intestinal protection?

Answer 20

function of the microbiota
block colonization by pathogenic bacteria by covering the surface and secreting inhibiting substances such as acids

Question 21

What is the significance of the development of lymphoid organs?

Answer 21

begins in GI tract after birth and matures after being born

Question 22

Which cells and Ig are brought in during the development of lymphoid organs?

Answer 22

B cells that secrete
IgA

Question 23

What is the significance of microbiota signal to the body?

Answer 23

bacteria, on skin and other places communicate directly and effectively with their host’s immune system
interaction is essential to the proper functioning of the innate and adaptive immune responses

Question 24

What is the significance of butyrate and others on the microbiome?

Answer 24

suppress macrophages and promote Treg production
influences goblet cell differentiation and mucus production

Question 25

T/F: Microbiota do not trigger inflammation in the intestine

Answer 25

TRUE

Question 26

What results in dysbiosis?

Answer 26

preventing or eliminating an animal’s exposure and colonization of bacteria into its microbiome

Question 27

Equine laminitis is an example of ____

Answer 27

dysbiosis
limited ability to digest starch in small intestine and causes overspill to hind gut
starch is fermented releasing toxins into the bloodstream
inflame capillaries of lamina

Question 28

What is rumen acidosis?

Answer 28

feeding of rapidly digestible carbohydrates (grains) when fermented increases
eventually can overproduce D-lactate
causes pH to drop

Question 29

The most common form of inflammatory bowel disease is _____ because there is an increase in what?

Answer 29

lymphocytic-plasmacytic enteritis
increase in TH17 cells that are pro-inflammatory

Question 30

The Hygiene hypothesis theorizes that being too clean causes ______

Answer 30

allergies