Abstract
The development of prebiotic fibers requires fast high-throughput screening of their effects on the gut microbiota. We demonstrated the applicability of a mictotiter plate in the in vitro fermentation models for the screening of potentially-prebiotic dietary fibers. The effects of seven rye bran-, oat- and linseed-derived fiber preparations on the human fecal microbiota composition and short-chain fatty acid production were studied. The model was also used to study whether fibers can alleviate the harmful effects of amoxicillin-clavulanate on the microbiota. The antibiotic induced a shift in the bacterial community in the absence of fibers by decreasing the relative amounts of Bifidobacteriaceae, Bacteroidaceae, Prevotellaceae, Lachnospiraceae and Ruminococcaceae, and increasing proteobacterial Sutterilaceae levels from 1% to 11% of the total microbiota. The fermentation of rye bran, enzymatically treated rye bran, its insoluble fraction, soluble oat fiber and a mixture of rye fiber:soluble oat fiber:linseed resulted in a significant increase in butyrate production and a bifidogenic effect in the absence of the antibiotic. These fibers were also able to counteract the negative effects of the antibiotic and prevent the decrease in the relative amount of bifidobacteria. Insoluble and soluble rye bran fractions and soluble oat fiber were the best for controlling the level of proteobacteria at the level below 2%.
Highlights
The gut microbiota has been shown to have a remarkable impact on the overall health status of the host organism
Insoluble fraction of enzymatically treated rye bran (Insol EnzRB) and Soluble oat beta-glucan (SolBG) sample contained the highest amount of dietary fiber, and the Insol EnzRB had the highest content of insoluble fiber whereas solBG had the highest content of soluble fiber
We showed that the simple microtiter format in the in vivo fermentation model can be used for the screening of the dietary fiber preparations on gut microbiota
Summary
The gut microbiota has been shown to have a remarkable impact on the overall health status of the host organism. Main external factors that can affect the composition of the gut microbiota in generally healthy people include antibiotic therapy and major dietary changes. Antibiotic treatments are known to have negative short-term as well as long-term side effects on commensal gut microbiota. Different kinds of disturbances of the gut microbiota upon antibiotic challenges have been reported, from the reduction in a total number of gut bacteria to the changes in relative amounts of particular bacterial groups, metabolic dysfunction, and antibiotic-associated diarrhea as a common side effect [1,2,3,4,5]. Intervention with dietary fibers is one of the attractive options to modulate the gut microbiota [6,7]. Well designed functional fibers could selectively target beneficial bacterial groups in the gut microbial population
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