Obesity and the use of antibiotics and probiotics in rats.

Background: Obesity has become a major public health challenge in recent years. Recent studies suggest that alterations of the gut microbiota by antibiotics could play an important role in obesity.

Methods: We investigated this topic using 60 Wistar rats, which were divided into 3 experimental groups: rats treated with amoxicillin, rats treated with amoxicillin plus Saccharomyces boulardii and controls.