The effects of different lung part, age, and batches on the lung microbiota of healthy rats

Background: The lung has been found to harbor a diverse low biomass microbiome that is related to various lung diseases. Rat models are valuable tools to study the lung microbiota in diseases. Yet the impacts of different lung parts, young and mature adult stages, and the different batches of the same conditions on the healthy rat lung microbiome have not been investigated.Methods: The rat lung microbiome was analyzed using 16S ribosomal RNA gene sequencing and bioinformatics methods to clarify the lung part-dependent and age-dependent differences and to assess the influences of differing "batch environmental microbiomes" of normal rats, on the premise of eliminating potential contamination.