Sex-specific Microbial and Host Responses by Fecal Microbiota Transplantation in Comparison to Bifidobacterium longum BBH016 in Water Stress-induced Gut Dysbiosis in a Wistar Rat Model

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a chronic functional gastrointestinal disorder influenced by stress, microbial dysbiosis, and immune activation. While microbiota-directed therapies such as probiotics and fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) have shown promise, their sex-specific effects remain poorly characterized. We investigated the therapeutic effects of FMT in comparison to Bifidobacterium longum BBH016 in male and female Wistar rats subjected to repeated water avoidance stress (WAS).