Cellulose Butyrate as a Potent Fiber Supplement for Mono-Gastric Animals to Modulate Hindgut Microbiota and Fermentation: In Vitro Evaluations

Abstract

To evaluate the function of cellulose butyrate (CB), a new synthetic, fibrous, candidate food additive, a series of batch culture study was carried out. Fecal cultures were prepared using fresh feces from human volunteers and swines, and anaerobically incubated to characterize the effect of CB on hindgut fermentation and microbial community, and thereby evaluate the potential use of CB as a food additive in mono-gastric animals. Three types of CB differing in the degree of substitution and in the carbon position of glucose residue where butyl groups are substituted were tested to proceed multiple comparisons for measured parameters. Among three types of CB tested, partially water-soluble CB3 was associated with the highest increase in butyrate production in human and swine fecal cultures. CB3 supplementation shifted fecal microbiota toward greater abundance of bacteria in the Bacteroidetes phylum, in particular the genus Parabacteroides, in which the increase of Parabacteroides distasonis was remarkable even with individual variations. CB3 also lowered putrefactive products, including ammonia, indole and skatole, in the cultures. Dietary use of partially water-soluble CB3 might be expected to have useful effects in humans and other mono-gastric animals, judging from the present results of enhanced butyrate production and lowered putrefactive products with CB3 addition to feces. The results might be partly attributable to a shift in hindgut microbiota, represented by the increased abundance of Bacteroidetes, especially Parabacteroides species. Therefore, CB3 can be considered as a functional additive candidate for the use in mono-gastric animals such as human and pigs.