Abstract
Two different conditions are included in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), Crohn’s disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC), being distinguished by chronic recurrence of gut inflammation in persons that are genetically predisposed and subjected to environmental causative factors. The normal structure of the gut microbiome and its alterations in IBD were defined in several microbial studies. An important factor in the prolonged inflammatory process in IBD is the impaired microbiome or “dysbiosis”. Thus, gut microbiome management is likely to be an objective in IBD treatment. In this review, we analyzed the existing data regarding the pathophysiological/therapeutic implications of intestinal microflora in the development and evolution of IBD. Furthermore, the main effects generated by the administration of probiotics, prebiotics, fecal transplantation, and phytochemicals supplementation were analyzed regarding their potential roles in improving the clinical and biochemical status of patients suffering from Crohn’s disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC), and are depicted in the sections/subsections of the present paper. Data from the literature give evidence in support of probiotic and prebiotic therapy, showing effects such as improving remission rate, improving macroscopic and microscopic aspects of IBD, reducing the pro-inflammatory cytokines and interleukins, and improving the disease activity index. Therefore, the additional benefits of these therapies should not be ignored as adjuvants to medical therapy.
Highlights
This article centralizes the existing data provided by significant literature published between 1989 and 2021 and related to the pathophysiological and therapeutic implications of intestinal microflora in the development and evolution of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD); it presents in detail the beneficial effects of probiotics, prebiotics, phytochemicals supplementation, or fecal transplant in improving the clinical parameters of IBD patients
The above data have been supported by other studies that have shown an increase in the number of species from the Proteobacteria family, especially Escherichia coli, in the intestinal mucosa of patients with Crohn’s disease (CD)
Sood et al demonstrated that combining VSL#3 with standard therapy over a 12-week period improves disease remission rates by reducing ulcerative colitis disease activity index (UCDAI) score by more than 50%
Summary
This article centralizes the existing data provided by significant literature published between 1989 and 2021 and related to the pathophysiological and therapeutic implications of intestinal microflora in the development and evolution of IBD; it presents in detail the beneficial effects of probiotics, prebiotics, phytochemicals supplementation, or fecal transplant in improving the clinical parameters of IBD patients. In this regard, the authors searched the most well-known databases (i.e., MDPI, Scopus, ScienceDirect, Elsevier, Frontiers, etc.), using key words or combinations of them (i.e., gut microbiota; supplements; inflammatory bowel disease; Crohn’s disease; ulcerative colitis; probiotics; prebiotics; fecal microbiota transplant; phytochemicals, etc.). The present research intends to provide specialists and patients with new information related to this topic and to make as accessible as possible the published data regarding the newest/latest therapies in the field; in addition, the most pertinent and relevant results obtained in medical practice were registered, focused on the optimization of the management of this pathology, both by examining the valuable scientific evidences and by presenting/respectively evaluating the modern ways of treating this disease
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
