Oral Bacterial Translocation Promotes Lung Dysbiosis and Infection Risk after Spinal Cord Injury
- 1Department of Neuroscience, Belford Center for Spinal Cord Injury, Centre for Brain and Spinal Cord Repair, The Ohio State University; Columbus, Ohio, 43210, US
Abstract
Spinal cord injury (SCI) causes systemic pathophysiology that extends beyond the injured spinal cord. Respiratory infections remain a leading cause of death after SCI and can impair neurological recovery, yet the microbial source of these infections remains poorly defined. This study defined the onset and origin of pulmonary dysbiosis after SCI by testing whether commensal bacteria move to the lung from the gut or oral cavity. In a murine model, bacterial culture, 16S rRNA sequencing and source-tracking analyses showed that SCI rapidly increased lung bacterial burden and shifted the pulmonary microbiome toward an oral-like community. Gut-associated bacteria did not measurably reach the lung through lymphatic or vascular routes. Systemic antibiotics commonly used to treat infection failed to reliably reduce post-SCI lung bacterial burden. In contrast, oral and lung-directed antibiotic delivery reduced bacteria linked to post-injury dysbiosis more effectively. These findings identify the oral cavity as a proximal source of lung dysbiosis after SCI, and support route-specific strategies to prevent respiratory infection after SCI.
Related
- The Bacterial ATPase SecA Functions as a Monomer in Protein Translocation
- Baltic Sea sediment bacterial communities show asymmetric and incomplete recovery after reciprocal temperature change translocation
- Cellular Crosstalk at the Gut-Liver Interface in Liver Cirrhosis: Epithelial Barrier Failure, Bacterial Translocation and Immune Activation as a Bidirectional Network.
- Cannabinoid receptor 1 activity promotes microbial dysbiosis by stimulating the oxygen-dependent expansion of Enterobacteriaceae
- Spinal Noradrenergic Overdrive Promotes Reversible Motor Unit Aging and Sarcopenia
BibTeX
@misc{mifflin2026oral,
title = {{Oral Bacterial Translocation Promotes Lung Dysbiosis and Infection Risk after Spinal Cord Injury}},
author = {K. A. Mifflin and K. A. Kigerl and P. Manrique and A. Cyr and A. K. Medipally and Z. Guan and K. M. Gowdy and P. G. Popovich},
howpublished = {bioRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.64898/2026.10.09.758070},
url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.09.758070v1},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Oral Bacterial Translocation Promotes Lung Dysbiosis and Infection Risk after Spinal Cord Injury
AU - K. A. Mifflin
AU - K. A. Kigerl
AU - P. Manrique
AU - A. Cyr
AU - A. K. Medipally
AU - Z. Guan
AU - K. M. Gowdy
AU - P. G. Popovich
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/09
PB - bioRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.10.09.758070
UR - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.09.758070v1
AB - Spinal cord injury (SCI) causes systemic pathophysiology that extends beyond the injured spinal cord. Respiratory infections remain a leading cause of death after SCI and can impair neurological recovery, yet the microbial source of these infections remains poorly defined. This study defined the onset and origin of pulmonary dysbiosis after SCI by testing whether commensal bacteria move to the lung from the gut or oral cavity. In a murine model, bacterial culture, 16S rRNA sequencing and source-tracking analyses showed that SCI rapidly increased lung bacterial burden and shifted the pulmonary microbiome toward an oral-like community. Gut-associated bacteria did not measurably reach the lung through lymphatic or vascular routes. Systemic antibiotics commonly used to treat infection failed to reliably reduce post-SCI lung bacterial burden. In contrast, oral and lung-directed antibiotic delivery reduced bacteria linked to post-injury dysbiosis more effectively. These findings identify the oral cavity as a proximal source of lung dysbiosis after SCI, and support route-specific strategies to prevent respiratory infection after SCI.
ER -