Gut microbiota serves as a critical indicator for gut health during treatment of pathogenic bacterial infection. Both Pulsatilla Decoction (abbreviated to PD, a traditional Chinese medicine compound) and Levofloxacin Hydrochloride (LVX) were known to have therapeutic effects to intestinal infectious disease. However, the changes of gut microbiota after PD or LVX treatment remain unclear. Herein, this work aimed to investigate the changes of intestinal flora after PD or LVX therapy of Escherichia coli infection in rats. Results revealed that PD exhibited a valid therapeutic approach for E. coli infection via the intestinal protection, as well as the inhibited release of IL-8 and ICAM-1. Besides, PD was beneficial to rebuild the gut microbiota via restoring Bacteroidetes spp in the composition of the gut microbiota. Comparatively, LVX treatment promoted the infection and ravaged gut microbiota by significantly decreasing Bacteroidetes and increasing Firmicutes. These findings not only highlight the mechanism of Chinese herbal formula, but extend the application of PD as veterinary medicine, feed additive and pre-mixing agent for improving the production of animal derived foods.

肠道菌群可作为治疗病原菌感染期间肠道健康的重要指标。都白头翁已知汤剂（缩写为PD，一种中药化合物）和盐酸左氧氟沙星（LVX）对肠道感染性疾病具有治疗作用。然而，PD或LVX处理后肠道菌群的变化仍不清楚。在这里，这项工作旨在调查PD或LVX治疗后肠道菌群的变化。大肠杆菌大鼠感染。结果显示PD表现出一种有效的治疗方法大肠杆菌通过肠道保护感染，以及抑制IL-8和ICAM-1释放。此外，PD有助于通过修复来重建肠道菌群拟杆菌属肠道菌群组成中的spp。相比之下，LVX处理通过显着减少拟杆菌和增加硬毛虫而促进了感染并破坏了肠道菌群。这些发现不仅突显了中草药配方的机理，而且扩大了PD作为兽药，饲料添加剂和预混剂的应用，以改善动物源性食品的生产。