Abstract
The intestinal microbiota plays important roles in the maintenance of health. Strategies aiming at its modulation, such as probiotics, have received a deal of attention. Several strains have been studied in different in vitro models; however, the correlation of results obtained with the in vivo data has been limited. This questions the usefulness of such in vitro selection models, traditionally relying on over-simplified tests, not considering the influence of the accompanying microbiota or focusing on microbiota composition without considering functional traits. Here we assess the potential of six Bifidobacterium, Lactobacillus and Lacticaseibacillus strains in an in vitro model to determine their impact on the microbiota not just in terms of composition but also of functionality. Moreover, we compared the responses obtained in two different population groups: normal-weight and severely obese subjects. Fecal cultures were conducted to evaluate the impact of the strains on specific intestinal microbial groups, on the production of short-chain fatty acids, and on two functional responses: the production of gas and the interaction with human intestinal epithelial cells. The response to the different probiotics differed between both human groups. The addition of the probiotic strains did not induce major changes on the microbiota composition, with significant increases detected almost exclusively for the species added. Higher levels of gas production were observed in cultures from normal-weight subjects than in the obese population, with some strains being able to significantly reduce gas production in the latter group. Moreover, in obese subjects all the Bifidobacterium strains tested and Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus GG were able to modify the response of the intestinal cells, restoring values similar to those obtained with the microbiotas of normal-weight subjects. Our results underline the need for the screening and selection of probiotics in a target-population specific manner by using appropriate in vitro models before enrolling in clinical intervention trials.
Highlights
Recent studies have underlined the important role of the gastrointestinal microbiota (GIM) in the maintenance of host’s health (Thursby and Juge, 2017)
Whilst in the obese individuals (OB) group no statistically differences were observed among treatments, in NW subjects the strains B. bifidum TMC3115, B. longum IF14/11 and L. gasseri BM7/10 induced significantly (p-value
The opposite trend was observed for gas production; whilst in OB subjects some strains were able to significantly (p-value
Summary
Recent studies have underlined the important role of the gastrointestinal microbiota (GIM) in the maintenance of host’s health (Thursby and Juge, 2017) Alterations on this GIM, the so-called “dysbiosis,” have been identified in several diseases (Duvallet et al, 2017). Studies with severely obese individuals (OB) are scarce, accumulating evidence indicates the existence of dysbiosis in this group as well (Aron-Wisnewsky et al, 2019; Cani, 2019; Nogacka et al, 2020a) As it could be expected from the GIM differences, and very likely due to the different dietary intakes, the fecal levels of short-chain fatty acids (SCFA) in OB subjects is modified with regard to NW individuals (Kim et al, 2019; Nogacka et al, 2020a). These SCFA are important mediators on the GIM-host interaction, playing important roles on host’s health (Ríos-Covián et al, 2016)
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