Abstract
Many functional food ingredients improve intestinal barrier function through their colonic fermentation products short chain fatty acids (SCFAs). Effects of individual SCFAs have been well studied, but the effects of SCFA mixtures–colonic fermentation products have been rarely investigated. Therefore, this study used an EnteroMix semi-continuous model to simulate the colonic fermentation of three widely used food ingredients, polydextrose, lactitol and xylitol in vitro, and investigated the effects of their fermentation products on impaired colonic epithelial barrier function through a mucus-secreting human HT29-MTX-E12 cell model. Fermentation of polydextrose and lactitol produced mainly acetate, while fermentation of xylitol produced mainly butyrate and resulted in a much higher butyrate proportion. All fermentation products significantly improved intestinal barrier repairing as measured by increased transepithelial electrical resistance and decreased paracellular permeability. Among these, xylitol fermentation products exhibited better repairing effects than that of polydextrose and lactitol. Correlation analysis showed that the repairing effects were attribute to butyrate but not acetate or propionate, implying that in the fermentation products butyrate may play a major role in improving intestinal barrier function. Our results suggest that functional food ingredients that mainly produce butyrate during fermentation may be of more value for improving gut health related to chronic diseases.
Highlights
The intestinal barrier is composed of gut microbiota, mucus, epithelial cells and some immune cells [1]
SCFAs was produced throughout thethree four vessels duebut to the carbohydrate suchproduced as starch, throughout four due in to the simulation carbohydrate components suchtotal as starch, guar inulin, guarthe gum etc.vessels contained medium
Our results showed that all fermentation products increased transepithelial electrical resistance (TEER) and decreased paracellular permeability of the compromised E12 cell monolayer, indicating that the production of SCFAs promotes intestinal barrier repair
Summary
The intestinal barrier is composed of gut microbiota, mucus, epithelial cells and some immune cells [1]. The maintenance of a healthy intestinal barrier, especially the repair of impaired barrier, is of great importance for the improvement of chronic diseases. Several studies have highlighted the role of short chain fatty acids (SCFAs) in such areas. They are known to serve as energy source for colonocytes, enhance intestinal barrier function, and help to repair wounded epithelium [4,5,6]. The level of individual SCFA required for improving intestinal barrier function seems to be different [7,8,13].
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