Abstract
SummaryInterest in faecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) has increased as therapy for intestinal diseases, but safety issues limit its widespread use. Intestinal fermentation technology (IFT) can produce controlled, diverse and metabolically active ‘artificial’ colonic microbiota as potential alternative to common FMT. However, suitable processing technology to store this artificial microbiota is lacking. In this study, we evaluated the impact of the two cryoprotectives, glycerol (15% v/v) and inulin (5% w/v) alone and in combination, in preserving short‐chain fatty acid formation and recovery of major butyrate‐producing bacteria in three artificial microbiota during cryopreservation for 3 months at −80°C. After 24 h anaerobic fermentation of the preserved microbiota, butyrate and propionate production were maintained when glycerol was used as cryoprotectant, while acetate and butyrate were formed more rapidly with glycerol in combination with inulin. Glycerol supported cryopreservation of the Roseburia spp./Eubacterium rectale group, while inulin improved the recovery of Faecalibacterium prausnitzii. Eubacterium hallii growth was affected minimally by cryopreservation. Our data indicate that butyrate producers, which are key organisms for gut health, can be well preserved with glycerol and inulin during frozen storage. This is of high importance if artificially produced colonic microbiota is considered for therapeutic purposes.
Highlights
Pathogenesis of several gastrointestinal diseases has been linked to functional alterations and compositional imbalances of the intestinal microbiota, referred as dysbiosis
We evaluated the impact of the two cryoprotectives, glycerol (15% v/v) and inulin (5% w/v) alone and in combination, in preserving short-chain fatty acid formation and recovery of major butyrate-producing bacteria in three artificial microbiota during cryopreservation for 3 months at À80°C
We investigated the effect of cryoprotectants on growth and relative abundance of butyrate-producing bacteria, Roseburia spp./E. rectale group, F. prausnitzii a 2017 The Authors
Summary
Pathogenesis of several gastrointestinal diseases has been linked to functional alterations and compositional imbalances of the intestinal microbiota, referred as dysbiosis. To restore the microbial balance, transfer of faecal microbiota from a healthy donor (FMT) to diseased patients has been suggested as a therapeutic strategy. A careful donor screening regarding faecal microbiota composition, pathogen status and undesirable antigens and ‘phenotypes’ must be performed preventively (Petrof and Khoruts, 2014; Alang and Kelly, 2015). Despite the increasing demand for FMT, rigorous exclusion criteria for donors strongly limit the widespread availability of suitable faecal material (Konig et al, 2017). The approach of transplanting ‘artificially’ produced microbiota, which has been extensively characterized, might alleviate these limitations. Processing for long-term preservation is required to guarantee availability of artificial faecal microbiota for transplantation
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