Antibiotic-induced Microbiome Depletion in IL-10 Mice

IL-10^−/− mice (C57BL/6j background) were bred in the Forschungsinstitute für Experimentelle Medizin, Charité—Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany. Under standard conditions (i.e., 22–24 °C room temperature, 55 ± 15% humidity, 12 h light/12 h dark cycle) mice were housed in cages including filter tops within an experimental semi-barrier and had free access to autoclaved water (ad libitum) and standard chow (food pellets: ssniff R/M-H, V1534-300, Sniff, Soest, Germany). To eradicate the commensal gut microbiota, 3-week-old female and male mice were exposed to a broad-spectrum antibiotic treatment as described earlier [39 (link),40 (link)]. Briefly, mice were transferred to sterile cages (maximum of 3–4 animals per cage) and received an antibiotic cocktail for 8 weeks by adding ampicillin plus sulbactam (1 g/L; Dr Friedrich Eberth Arzneimittel, Ursensollen, Germany), vancomycin (500 mg/L; Hikma Pharmaceuticals, London, UK), ciprofloxacin (200 mg/L; Fresenius Kabi, Bad Homburg, Germany), imipenem (250 mg/L; Fresenius Kabi) and metronidazole (1 g/L; B. Braun, Melsungen, Germany) to drinking water (ad libitum). Microbiota-depleted mice were kept and handled under strict aseptic conditions. Three days before C. jejuni infection, the animals received autoclaved tap water.