Dietary influence on the microbiome following spinal cord injury.

The gastrointestinal environment is drastically impacted following traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI). Here, we set out to determine the microbiome composition using 16S rRNA (V3-V4) profiling following a severe, T9/10 contusion SCI in mice, over 2 weeks post-injury. In order to identify methods to promote resilience of the microbiome following SCI, we examined microbiomes of injured mice provided with 1% soluble inulin fiber, ad lib, to see whether this dietary intervention limits effects in the gastrointestinal tract.