Abstract
Probiotic supplementation plays a key role in maintaining intestinal homeostasis due to its ability to modulate gut microbiota. Although their potential as potent antioxidants have previously been explored, their ability to affect the redox status in the gut lumen of healthy subjects or those with gastrointestinal (GI) disorders remains unclear. In our study, we assessed the ability of single strain and multispecies probiotic supplementation to cause a change in the redox status of normal fecal water and in Clostridium (C.) difficile-infected fecal water using a simulated gastrointestinal model. Changes in redox status were assessed by ferric-reducing antioxidant power (FRAP), 2’,2’-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), and iron and copper chelation assays. The findings from our study showed that in normal fecal water, probiotic supplements, apart from Lactobacillus (L.) rhamnosus R0011, showed a significant increase in iron chelation (p < 0.05), which was associated with lower FRAP and copper chelation. In C. difficile-infected fecal water, all probiotic supplements showed a significant increase in FRAP (p < 0.05) and were associated with increased copper chelation. The DPPH assay showed no treatment effect in either fecal water. These findings suggest that C. difficile mediates dysregulation of redox status, which is counteracted by probiotics through ferric-reducing ability and copper chelation.
Highlights
Probiotics have received extensive study as putative therapeutic agents for use toward the prevention and treatment of gastrointestinal (GI) disorders with altered gut microbiota profiles [1,2].Probiotic supplementation has been well-established in various animal disease models to be associated with decreased intestinal cytotoxic damage, involving downregulation of inflammatory pathways [3,4].probiotics have been indicated to stabilize gut microbiota through different mechanisms such as iron chelation and anti-microbial metabolite production [2], which are associated with antioxidant action
ferric-reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) and diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical (DPPH) assays were used to measure the redox status of the fecal water obtained from colonic reactors following simulated upper GI digestion involving probiotic treatments
Iron and copper chelation assays were conducted to assess the capability of the probiotics to affect the chelation ability of the fecal water
Summary
Probiotic supplementation has been well-established in various animal disease models to be associated with decreased intestinal cytotoxic damage, involving downregulation of inflammatory pathways [3,4]. Probiotics have been indicated to stabilize gut microbiota through different mechanisms such as iron chelation and anti-microbial metabolite production [2], which are associated with antioxidant action. Enhanced plasma antioxidant capacity and decreased oxidative stress biomarkers have been demonstrated in clinical trials involving probiotic supplementation [5,6,7]. The antioxidant potential of probiotic bacteria has been shown to be strain-specific. For this reason, the antioxidant potential is not generalizable to the species level [8].
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