Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
BMC Microbiol. 2010 Jan 7;10:4. doi: 10.1186/1471-2180-10-4.
The human gut harbors a diverse community of microorganisms which serve numerous important functions for the host wellbeing. Functional foods are commonly used to modulate the composition of the gut microbiota contributing to the maintenance of the host health or prevention of disease. In the present study, we characterized the impact of one month intake of a synbiotic food, containing fructooligosaccharides and the probiotic strains Lactobacillus helveticus Bar13 and Bifidobacterium longum Bar33, on the gut microbiota composition and metabolic profiles of 20 healthy subjects.
The synbiotic food did not modify the overall structure of the gut microbiome, as indicated by Polymerase Chain Reaction-Denaturing Gradient Gel Electrophoresis (PCR-DGGE). The ability of the probiotic L. helveticus and B. longum strains to pass through the gastrointestinal tract was hypothesized on the basis of real-time PCR data. In spite of a stable microbiota, the intake of the synbiotic food resulted in a shift of the fecal metabolic profiles, highlighted by the Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry Solid Phase Micro-Extraction (GC-MS/SPME) analysis. The extent of short chain fatty acids (SCFA), ketones, carbon disulfide and methyl acetate was significantly affected by the synbiotic food consumption. Furthermore, the Canonical discriminant Analysis of Principal coordinates (CAP) of GC-MS/SPME profiles allowed a separation of the stool samples recovered before and after the consumption of the functional food.
In this study we investigated the global impact of a dietary intervention on the gut ecology and metabolism in healthy humans. We demonstrated that the intake of a synbiotic food leads to a modulation of the gut metabolic activities with a maintenance of the gut biostructure. In particular, the significant increase of SCFA, ketones, carbon disulfide and methyl acetate following the feeding period suggests potential health promoting effects of the synbiotic food.
人类肠道中栖息着多样化的微生物群落，这些微生物对宿主的健康起着许多重要作用。功能性食品常用于调节肠道微生物群落的组成，有助于维持宿主健康或预防疾病。在本研究中，我们研究了摄入含有低聚果糖和益生菌菌株瑞士乳杆菌 Bar13 和长双歧杆菌 Bar33 的合生元食品一个月对 20 名健康受试者肠道微生物群落组成和代谢谱的影响。
聚合酶链反应-变性梯度凝胶电泳（PCR-DGGE）表明，合生元食品并未改变肠道微生物组的整体结构。基于实时 PCR 数据，假设益生菌瑞士乳杆菌和长双歧杆菌菌株能够通过胃肠道。尽管肠道微生物群保持稳定，但合生元食品的摄入导致粪便代谢谱发生变化，通过气相色谱-质谱固相微萃取（GC-MS/SPME）分析得到强调。短链脂肪酸（SCFA）、酮类、二硫化碳和乙酸甲酯的含量受到合生元食品摄入的显著影响。此外，GC-MS/SPME 图谱的典型判别分析主坐标（CAP）允许在功能食品摄入前后分离粪便样本。
在这项研究中，我们调查了饮食干预对健康人群肠道生态和代谢的全面影响。我们证明，摄入合生元食品会导致肠道代谢活动的调节，同时保持肠道生物结构。特别是在喂养期后 SCFA、酮类、二硫化碳和乙酸甲酯的显著增加表明合生元食品具有潜在的促进健康的作用。
