Beneficial microbes最新文献

{"title":"Gut microbiome and symptoms in females with irritable bowel syndrome: a cross-sectional analysis.","authors":"K J Kamp, A M Plantinga, K C Cain, R L Burr, C-S Tsai, Q Wu, S Y So, S Badu, T Savidge, R J Shulman, M M Heitkemper","doi":"10.1163/18762891-bja00015","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/18762891-bja00015","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), a disorder of gut-brain interaction, is associated with abdominal pain and stool frequency/character alterations that are linked to changes in microbiome composition. We tested whether taxa differentially abundant between females with IBS vs healthy control females (HC) are associated with daily gastrointestinal and psychological symptom severity. Participants (age 18-50 year) completed a 3-day food record and collected a stool sample during the follicular phase. They also completed a 28-day diary rating symptom intensity; analysis focused on the three days after the stool sample collection. 16S rRNA gene sequencing was used for bacterial identification. Taxon abundance was compared between IBS and HC using zero-inflated quantile analysis (ZINQ). We found that females with IBS (n = 67) had greater Bacteroides abundance (q = 0.003) and lower odds of Bifidobacterium presence (q = 0.036) compared to HC (n = 46) after adjusting for age, race, body mass index, fibre intake, and hormonal contraception use. Intestimonas, Oscillibacter, and Phascolarctobacterium were more often present and Christensenellaceae R-7 group, Collinsella, Coprococcus 2, Moryella, Prevotella 9, Ruminococcaceae UCG-002, Ruminococcaceae UCG-005, and Ruminococcaceae UCG-014 were less commonly present in IBS compared to HC. Despite multiple taxon differences in IBS vs HC, we found no significant associations between taxon presence or abundance and average daily symptom severity within the IBS group. This may indicate the need to account for interactions between microbiome, dietary intake, metabolites, and host factors.</p>","PeriodicalId":8834,"journal":{"name":"Beneficial microbes","volume":"15 3","pages":"259-273"},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2024-05-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141183795","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Post-milking application of a Lacticaseibacillus paracasei strain impacts bovine teat microbiota while preserving the mammary gland physiology and immunity.","authors":"C Goetz, L Rault, J Cuffel, P Poton, L Finot, G Boullet, M Boutinaud, S Even","doi":"10.1163/18762891-bja00014","DOIUrl":"10.1163/18762891-bja00014","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Bovine mastitis (BM) is a major disease in dairy industry. The current approaches - mainly antibiotic treatments - are not entirely effective and may contribute to antimicrobial resistance dissemination, rising the need for alternative treatment. The present study aims to evaluate the impact of post-milking application of Lacticaseibacillus paracasei CIRM BIA 1542 (Lp1542) on the teat skin (TS) of 20 Holstein cows in mid lactation, in order to reinforce the barrier effect of the microbiota naturally present on the teat. Treatment (Lp1542, iodine or no treatment) was applied post-milking twice a day on the 4 teats of healthy animals for 15 days. Blood and milk samples, and TS swabs were collected at day (D)1, D8, D15 and D26 before morning milking and at D15 before evening milking (D15E) to evaluate Lp1542 impact at the microbial, immune and physiological levels. Lp1542 treatment resulted in a higher lactic acid bacteria and total microbial populations on TS and in foremilk (FM) at D15(E) compared with iodine treatment. Metabarcoding analysis revealed changes in the composition of TS and FM microbiota, beyond a higher Lacticaseibacillus abundance. This included a higher abundance of Actinobacteriota, including Bifidobacterium, and a lower abundance of Pseudomonadota on TS of Lp1542 compared with iodine-treated quarters. In addition, Lp1542 treatment did not trigger any major inflammatory response in the mammary gland, except interleukin 8 production and expression which tended to be slightly higher in Lp1542-treated cows compared with the others. Finally, Lp1542 treatment had no impact on the mammary epithelium functionality (milk yield and composition) and integrity (epithelial cell exfoliation into milk and milk Na+/K+ ratio). Altogether, these results indicate that a topical treatment with Lp1542 is safe with regard to mammary gland physiology and immune system, while impacting its microbiota, inviting us to further explore its effectiveness for mastitis prevention.</p>","PeriodicalId":8834,"journal":{"name":"Beneficial microbes","volume":" ","pages":"275-291"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2024-05-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140921016","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Different microbial ecological agents change the composition of intestinal microbiota and the levels of SCFAs in mice to alleviate loperamide-induced constipation.","authors":"C Zhang, L Wang, X Liu, G Wang, X Guo, X Liu, J Zhao, W Chen","doi":"10.1163/18762891-bja00011","DOIUrl":"10.1163/18762891-bja00011","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Probiotics exert beneficial effects by regulating the intestinal microbiota, metabolism, immune function and other ways of their host. Patients with constipation, a common gastrointestinal disorder, experience disturbances in their intestinal microbiota. In the present study, we investigated the effectiveness of two microbial ecological agents (postbiotic extract PE0401 and a combination of postbiotic extract PE0401 and Lacticaseibacillus paracasei CCFM 2711) in regulating the makeup of the intestinal microbiota and alleviating loperamide hydrochloride-induced constipation in mice. We also preliminarily explored the mechanism underlying their effects. Both microbial ecological agents increased the abundance of the beneficial bacteria Lactobacilli and Bifidobacterium after administration and were able to relieve constipation. However, the degree of improvement in constipation symptoms varied depending on the makeup of the supplement. The postbiotic extract PE0401 increased peristalsis time and improved faecal properties throughout the intestinal tract of the host. PE0401 relieved constipation, possibly by modulating the levels of the constipation-related gastrointestinal regulatory transmitters mouse motilin, mouse vasoactive intestinal peptide, and 5-hydoxytryptamine in the intestinal tract of the host and by increasing the levels of the short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) acetic acid, propionic acid, and isovaleric acid. It also increased the relative abundance of Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium and reduced that of Faecalibaculum, Mucispirillum, Staphylococcus, and Lachnoclostridium, which are among the beneficial microbiota in the host intestine. Furthermore, PE0401 decreased the levels of constipation-induced host inflammatory factors. Therefore, the two microbial ecological agents can regulate the intestinal microbiota of constipation mice, and PE0401 has a stronger ability to relieve constipation.</p>","PeriodicalId":8834,"journal":{"name":"Beneficial microbes","volume":" ","pages":"311-329"},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2024-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140849015","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Screening of probiotic strains to improve visceral hypersensitivity in irritable bowel syndrome by using in vitro and in vivo approaches.","authors":"E Torres-Maravilla, F A Carvalho, S Holowacz, J Delannoy, L Lenoir, E Jacouton, F Barbut, P Langella, L G Bermúdez-Humarán, A-J Waligora-Dupriet","doi":"10.1163/18762891-bja00006","DOIUrl":"10.1163/18762891-bja00006","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Oral administration of probiotics has been proposed as a promising biotherapy to prevent and treat different diseases related to gastrointestinal disorders, such as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Due to the increasing research area on the characterisation of new probiotic bacterial strains, it is necessary to perform suitable in vitro experiments, using pertinent cellular models, in order to establish appropriate readout profiles based on IBS symptoms and subtypes. In this work, a collection of 30 candidate strains, belonging mainly to the Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium genera, were screened using three different sets of in vitro experiments with different readouts to identify promising probiotic strains with: (1) the ability to inhibit the synthesis of IL-8 production by TNF-α stimulated HT-29 cells, (2) immunomodulatory properties quantified as increased IL-10 levels in peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMCs), and (3) the ability to maintain epithelial barrier integrity by increasing the trans-epithelial/endothelial electrical resistance (TEER) values in Caco-2 cells. Based on these criteria, three strains were selected: Lactobacillus gasseri PI41, Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus PI48 and Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis PI50, and tested in a murine model of low-grade inflammation induced by dinitrobenzene sulfonic acid (DNBS), which mimics some of the symptoms of IBS. Among the three strains, L. gasseri PI41 improved overall host well-being by preventing body weight loss in DNBS-treated mice and restored gut homeostasis by normalising the intestinal permeability and reducing pro-inflammatory markers. Therefore, the potential of this strain was confirmed in a second murine model known to reproduce IBS symptoms: the neonatal maternal separation (NMS) model. The PI41 strain was effective in preventing intestinal permeability and reducing colonic hypersensitivity. In conclusion, the set of in vitro experiments combined with in vivo assessments allowed us to identify a promising probiotic candidate strain, L. gasseri PI41, in the context of IBS.</p>","PeriodicalId":8834,"journal":{"name":"Beneficial microbes","volume":" ","pages":"293-310"},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2024-04-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140849658","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Cell-free supernatant of Lactococcus lactis IDCC 2301 exerts anti-inflammatory effects in LPS-induced macrophages via NF-κB and MAPK signaling pathways.","authors":"M Lee, S A Chae, Y J Lee, H J Jeon, S-C Hong, M Shin, Y H Jung, J Yang","doi":"10.1163/18762891-bja00008","DOIUrl":"10.1163/18762891-bja00008","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This study investigated the anti-inflammatory effects of cell-free supernatant of Lactococcus lactis IDCC 2301 on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced RAW 264.7 macrophages. Expression of inflammatory mediators and cytokines, and the production of nitric oxide (NO) and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) were qualitatively analysed. The expression of signal transductors in inflammatory cascades was quantified by western blot. Treatment with cell-free supernatant of L. lactis IDCC 2301 significantly decreased the mRNA expression levels of tumour necrosis factor (TNF-α) and interleukins including IL-1β and IL-6. The levels of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and cyclooxygenase (COX-2) were also remarkably reduced in LPS-induced macrophages after the treatment. Furthermore, L. lactis IDCC 2301 reduced the levels of both dephosphorylated and phosphorylated forms of nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB), IκB-α, extracellular signal-regulated kinases (ERK), c-Jun amino-terminal kinases (JNK), and p38 in LPS-induced RAW 264.7 cells. Therefore, L. lactis IDCC 2301 shows anti-inflammatory activity by suppressing the NF-κB and mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathways.</p>","PeriodicalId":8834,"journal":{"name":"Beneficial microbes","volume":" ","pages":"331-341"},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2024-04-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140849149","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Highly conserved bifidobacteria in the human gut: Bifidobacterium longum subsp. longum as a potential modulator of elderly innate immunity.","authors":"G Longhi, G A Lugli, M G Bianchi, S M Rizzo, C Tarracchini, L Mancabelli, L M Vergna, G Alessandri, F Fontana, G Taurino, M Chiu, C Milani, D van Sinderen, O Bussolati, M Ventura, F Turroni","doi":"10.1163/18762891-bja00013","DOIUrl":"10.1163/18762891-bja00013","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Aging is a physiological and immunological process involving the deterioration of human health, characterised by the progressive alteration of organs and their functions. The speed and extent of such decline are dependent on lifestyle, environment, and genetic factors. Moreover, with advancing age, humans become progressively more fragile and prone to acute and chronic diseases. Although the intestinal microbiota is predisposed to perturbations that accompany aging and frailty, it is generally accepted that the gut microbiota engages in multiple interactions that affect host health throughout the host life span. In the current study, an exhaustive in silico investigation of gut-associated bifidobacteria in healthy individuals from birth to old age revealed that Bifidobacterium longum subsp. longum is the most prevalent member, especially during infancy and in centenarians. Moreover, B. longum subsp. longum genome reconstruction and strain tracing among human gut microbiomes allowed the identification of prototypes of this taxon in the human gut microbiota of healthy elderly individuals. Such analyses guided culturomics attempts to isolate B. longum subsp. longum strains that matched the genomic content of B. longum subsp. longum prototypes from healthy elderly individuals. The molecular effects of selected B. longum subsp. longum strains on the human host were further investigated using in vitro microbe-host interactions, revealing differences in the host immune system transcriptome, with a reduction in gene expression of inflammation-related cytokines. These intriguing findings support the potential anti-aging effects of elderly associated prototypes of B. longum subsp. longum.</p>","PeriodicalId":8834,"journal":{"name":"Beneficial microbes","volume":" ","pages":"241-258"},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2024-04-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140849345","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Longitudinal changes in bifidobacterial population during the first two years of life.","authors":"R An, F Fontana, E Van Daele, M Ventura, A Vlieger, R M van Elburg, J Knol, C Milani, C Belzer","doi":"10.1163/18762891-bja00012","DOIUrl":"10.1163/18762891-bja00012","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Early life microbiota encompasses of a large percentage of Bifidobacterium, while it is not sufficiently understood how the Bifidobacterium population develops after infant's birth. Current study investigated the longitudinal changes in Bifidobacterium population during the first two years of life in 196 term born infants (1,654 samples) using 16S rRNA-23S rRNA internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequence analysis. Throughout the first two years of life, Bifidobacterium breve, Bifidobacterium longum subsp. longum and Bifidobacterium adolescentis were most dominant and prevalent in the Bifidobacterium population, while B. breve had the highest relative abundance and prevalence during the first week of life and it was taken over by B. longum subsp. longum around two years after birth. Sampling time points, early antibiotic(s) exposure (effect only measurable within a month after birth), delivery mode (effect still detectable two-months after birth) and feeding mode (effect lasted until six months after birth), significantly contributed to the overall variation in the bifidobacterial population. From six months onwards, introducing of solid food and cessation of breastfeeding were accompanied with drastic changes in the composition in bifidobacterial population. Altogether, current study confirmed the effect of potential contributors to the longitudinal changes within the bifidobacterial population during the first two years of life. Registered at https://clinicaltrials.gov: NCT02536560.</p>","PeriodicalId":8834,"journal":{"name":"Beneficial microbes","volume":" ","pages":"227-240"},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2024-04-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140849390","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"An update on the taxonomy and functional properties of the probiotic Enterococcus faecium SF68.","authors":"C M A P Franz, B Pot, M G Vizoso-Pinto, A Arini, R Coppolecchia, W H Holzapfel","doi":"10.1163/18762891-bja00005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/18762891-bja00005","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Enterococcus faecium SF68 (SF68) is a well-known probiotic with a long history of safe use. Recent changes in the taxonomy of enterococci have shown that a novel species, Enterococcus lactis, is closely related with E. faecium and occurs together with other enterococci in a phylogenetically well-defined E. faecium species group. The close phylogenetic relationship between the species E. faecium and E. lactis prompted a closer investigation into the taxonomic status of E. faecium SF68. Using phylogenomics and ANI, the taxonomic analysis in this study showed that probiotic E. faecium SF68, when compared to other E. faecium and E. lactis type and reference strains, could be re-classified as belonging to the species E. lactis. Further investigations into the functional properties of SF68 showed that it is potentially capable of bacteriocin production, as a bacteriocin gene cluster encoding the leaderless bacteriocin EntK1 together with putative Lactococcus lactis bacteriocins LsbA, and LsbB-like putative immunity peptide (LmrB) were found located in an operon on plasmid pF9. However, bacteriocin expression was not studied. Competitive exclusion experiments in co-culture over 7 days at 37 °C showed that the probiotic SF68 could inhibit the growth of specific E. faecium and Listeria monocytogenes strains, while showing little or no inhibitory activity towards an entero-invasive Escherichia coli and a Salmonella Typhimurium strain, respectively. In cell culture experiments with colon carcinoma HT29 cells, the probiotic SF68 was also able to strain-specifically inhibit adhesion and/or invasion of enterococcal and L. monocytogenes strains, while such adhesion and invasion inhibition effects were less pronounced for E. coli and Salmonella strains. This study therefore provides novel data on the taxonomy and functional properties of SF68, which can be reclassified as Enterococcus lactis SF68, thereby enhancing the understanding of its probiotic nature.</p>","PeriodicalId":8834,"journal":{"name":"Beneficial microbes","volume":"15 2","pages":"211-225"},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2024-03-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140851318","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"General dynamics of the URT microbiome and microbial signs of recovery in COVID-19 patients.","authors":"O Ignatyeva, V Gostev, A Taraskina, I Tsvetkova, P Pavlova, O Sulian, V Ageevets, D Likholetova, P Chulkova, E Nikitina, L Matkava, M Terekhov, D Lisovaya, D Kashtanova, M Ivanov, O Kalinogorskaya, A Avdeeva, A Zhirkov, O Goleva, S Zakharenko, K Zhdanov, V Strizheletsky, Y Gomon, A Kruglov, O Ni, T Noskova, I Gorbova, G Cherenkova, I Shlyk, A Afanasyev, V Yudin, V Makarov, S Sidorenko, S Yudin","doi":"10.1163/18762891-bja00004","DOIUrl":"10.1163/18762891-bja00004","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>COVID-19 is caused by an airborne virus, SARS-CoV-2. The upper respiratory tract (URT) is, therefore, the first system to endure the attack. Inhabited by an assemblage of microbial communities, a healthy URT wards off the invasion. However, once invaded, it becomes destabilised, which could be crucial to the establishment and progression of the infection. We examined 696 URT samples collected from 285 COVID-19 patients at three time-points throughout their hospital stay and 100 URT samples from 100 healthy controls. We used 16S ribosomal RNA sequencing to evaluate the abundance of various bacterial taxa, α-diversity, and β-diversity of the URT microbiome. Ordinary least squares regression was used to establish associations between the variables, with age, sex, and antibiotics as covariates. The URT microbiome in the COVID-19 patients was distinctively different from that of healthy controls. In COVID-19 patients, the abundance of 16 genera was significantly reduced. A total of 47 genera were specific to patients, whereas only 2 were unique to controls. The URT samples collected at admission differed more from the control than from the samples collected at later stages of treatment. The following four genera originally depleted in the patients grew significantly by the end of treatment: Fusobacterium, Haemophilus, Neisseria, and Stenotrophomonas. Our findings strongly suggest that SARS-CoV-2 caused significant changes in the URT microbiome, including the emergence of numerous atypical taxa. These findings may indicate increased instability of the URT microbiome in COVID-19 patients. In the course of the treatment, the microbial composition of the URT of COVID-19 patients tended toward that of controls. These microbial changes may be interpreted as markers of recovery.</p>","PeriodicalId":8834,"journal":{"name":"Beneficial microbes","volume":" ","pages":"145-164"},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2024-02-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139982248","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Effects of fermented soymilk with Lacticaseibacillus paracasei YIT 9029 on gut microbiota and defecation habits: a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled study.","authors":"C Kaga, T Nagino, A Gomi, A Takagi, K Miyazaki, Y Yoshida, K Shida","doi":"10.1163/18762891-bja00003","DOIUrl":"10.1163/18762891-bja00003","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Previous studies have demonstrated that soymilk and Lacticaseibacillus paracasei YIT 9029 (strain Shirota: LcS) each beneficially affect the gut microbiota and defecation habits. To investigate the effects of daily consumption of fermented soymilk containing LcS (FSM), we conducted a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled study of 112 healthy Japanese adults with a low faecal Bifidobacterium count. They consumed 100 ml FSM or placebo (unfermented soymilk base) once daily for 4 weeks. Their gut microbiota was analysed by 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing and quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and faecal short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) and urinary putrefactive products were assessed during the pre- and post-consumption periods. Defecation habits were examined weekly using a subjective questionnaire. In the post-consumption period, living LcS were not detected in two subjects in the FSM group (n = 57) but were detected in one subject in the SM group (n = 55). The FSM group had a significantly higher number and relative abundance of faecal lactobacilli compared with the placebo group. The relative abundance of Bifidobacterium, alpha-diversity of microbiota, and concentrations of acetate and total SCFAs in faeces were significantly increased in the FSM group, although no significant differences were detected between the groups. The number of defecations and defecation days per week significantly increased in both groups. Subgroup analysis of 109 subjects, excluding 3 with inconsistent LcS detection (2 and 1 subjects in the FSM and SM groups, respectively), revealed that the FSM group (n = 55) had significantly greater increases in faecal acetate concentration compared with the SM group (n = 54) and significant upregulation of pathways related to energy production or glucose metabolism in the gut microbiota. These findings suggest that daily FSM consumption improves the gut microbiota and intestinal environment in healthy adults and may help to maintain health and prevent diseases. Registered at the University Hospital Medical Information Network (UMIN) clinical trials registry under: UMIN 000035612.</p>","PeriodicalId":8834,"journal":{"name":"Beneficial microbes","volume":" ","pages":"127-143"},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2024-02-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139982247","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}