Endometrial microbiome in mares with and without clinical endometritis.
Authors: Guo Lulu, Holyoak G Reed, DeSilva Udaya
Journal: Frontiers in veterinary science
Summary
# Editorial Summary: Endometrial Microbiome in Mares with and without Clinical Endometritis Chronic endometritis remains a significant cause of reproductive failure in mares, yet diagnosis is hampered by the absence of specific clinical or ultrasound markers, and traditional culture-dependent methods fail to identify the full range of causative organisms. Using 16S rRNA gene sequencing, researchers compared the endometrial microbiomes of 13 healthy mares with 13 diagnosed with chronic endometritis, carefully matched for location and management to control for environmental variables. The infected mares demonstrated markedly reduced microbial diversity—a hallmark of dysbiosis—with Burkholderia and Chlamydia significantly overrepresented; linear discriminant analysis further identified Hyphomicrobium and Erwiniaceae as enriched in diseased samples, whilst healthy mares maintained greater overall richness and functional diversity. Metabolic pathway analysis revealed that CE-associated microbiota exhibited heightened metabolism-related gene expression compared to the balanced functional profile of normal uterine communities. For practitioners, these findings suggest that dysbiosis—rather than infection by a single pathogen—may be central to chronic endometritis pathogenesis, pointing towards future diagnostic approaches using microbiome profiling and potentially informing targeted antimicrobial or probiotic strategies to restore microbial balance rather than pursue broad-spectrum treatment.
Read the full abstract on PubMed
Practical Takeaways
- •Current ultrasound and clinical diagnostics for endometritis miss cases due to lack of sensitivity; microbiome profiling may offer a more reliable diagnostic approach
- •Chronic endometritis appears driven by microbial imbalance rather than single pathogenic organisms, suggesting dysbiosis management may be more effective than traditional antimicrobial targeting
- •Future reproductive management protocols for subfertile mares may need to include microbiome assessment and restoration strategies rather than relying on culture-based organism identification
Key Findings
- •Microbial diversity was significantly reduced in mares with chronic endometritis compared to healthy controls, indicating dysbiosis
- •Burkholderia, Chlamydia, Hyphomicrobium, and Erwiniaceae were significantly more abundant in endometritis samples
- •Healthy mares exhibited greater microbial richness and functional diversity with different metabolic pathway profiles than diseased mares
- •Sequencing-based microbiome profiling may improve diagnosis of chronic endometritis over current ultrasound and clinical methods