Effect of invasive mechanical ventilation on the diversity of the pulmonary microbiota

Crit Care. 2022 Aug 22;26(1):252. doi: 10.1186/s13054-022-04126-6.

Abstract

Pulmonary microbial diversity may be influenced by biotic or abiotic conditions (e.g., disease, smoking, invasive mechanical ventilation (MV), etc.). Specially, invasive MV may trigger structural and physiological changes in both tissue and microbiota of lung, due to gastric and oral microaspiration, altered body posture, high O2 inhalation-induced O2 toxicity in hypoxemic patients, impaired airway clearance and ventilator-induced lung injury (VILI), which in turn reduce the diversity of the pulmonary microbiota and may ultimately lead to poor prognosis. Furthermore, changes in (local) O2 concentration can reduce the diversity of the pulmonary microbiota by affecting the local immune microenvironment of lung. In conclusion, systematic literature studies have found that invasive MV reduces pulmonary microbiota diversity, and future rational regulation of pulmonary microbiota diversity by existing or novel clinical tools (e.g., lung probiotics, drugs) may improve the prognosis of invasive MV treatment and lead to more effective treatment of lung diseases with precision.

Keywords: Hyperoxia; Hypoxia; Invasive mechanical ventilation; Microaspiration; O2 toxicity; Pulmonary microbiota; Single-cell RNA sequencing; Ventilator-induced lung injury.

Publication types

  • Review
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Humans
  • Lung* / microbiology
  • Microbiota*
  • Respiration, Artificial* / adverse effects
  • Ventilator-Induced Lung Injury / epidemiology