Uterine microbes help sustain energy production in aging hens
In an experiment with 40 aging hens, bacterial products given for seven days improved uterine energy production after antibiotics depleted resident microbes.
Limit: Supplementation effects in an intact uterine microbial community were not measured
Edited by Boris Djordjevic · AgingResearch.News
In Hy-Line Brown laying hens, researchers compared uterine tissue and microbes at 38 and 78 weeks of age and ran experiments in aging birds. Microbial analyses suggested that the aging uterine environment increasingly shaped bacterial communities, favoring Rhodococcus bacteria, rather than communities forming mainly by chance.
Researchers randomly assigned 40 aging hens to four groups. After antibiotics depleted uterine microbes, seven days of Rhodococcus ruber bacteria or their products improved eggshell quality. Bacterial products also improved uterine energy production. The authors linked the energy deficit to a DNA-repair enzyme depleting a molecule needed for energy metabolism. They reported that bacterial spermidine restored uterine energy production by stimulating mitophagy, the removal of damaged mitochondria, which are cells’ energy-producing structures. They interpreted the microbial shift as compensation for declining uterine energy metabolism.
Why it matters
Eggshell formation depends on energy production in the uterus. The study addressed whether age-related changes in resident microbes could help maintain that tissue’s function.
Caveats
The bacterial-restoration experiment tested effects after antibiotic depletion, not supplementation of an intact uterine microbial community. These animal findings do not establish effects on human reproductive aging.
The paper
Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences
Microbiome, May 29, 2026, Open access
