Development of a Humanized Murine Model for the Study of Oxalobacter formigenes Intestinal Colonization

Abstract

Background: Oxalobacter formigenes are bacteria that colonize the human gut and degrade oxalate, a component of most kidney stones. Findings of clinical and epidemiological studies suggest that O. formigenes colonization reduces the risk for kidney stones. We sought to develop murine models to allow investigating O. formigenes in the context of its native human microbiome. Methods: For humanization, we transplanted pooled feces from healthy, noncolonized human donors supplemented with a human O. formigenes strain into recipient mice. We transplanted microbiota into mice that were treated with broad-spectrum antibiotics to suppress their native microbiome, were germ free, or received humanization without pretreatment or received sham gavage (controls). Results: All humanized mice were stably colonized with O. formigenes through 8 weeks after gavage, whereas mice receiving sham gavage remained uncolonized (P