Gut Microbiome: Prebiotics and Probiotics Overview

Prebiotics, probiotics and next generation pharmaceutical modulation of the gut microbiome

• Prebiotics are non-digestible food components that nourish beneficial colonic microorganisms
• Prebiotics are used as an alternative or additional support to probiotics
• Prebiotic selection criteria include resistance to upper GI digestion, fermentation by gut microbiota
• Beneficial effects on host's health include selective stimulation of probiotic growth and stability under food processing conditions
• Common prebiotics include FOS, GOS, inulin, xylooligosaccharides, lactitol, lactosucrose, lactulose, and soy oligosaccharides, transgalactooligosaccharides
• Fermentable dietary fibres like inulin, oligofructose, FOS, and galacto-oligosaccharides increase Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus amounts in stool samples and are linked to increased SCFAs

Modulation of the gut microbiota

• No universally beneficial "magic bullet" diet exists for gut microbiota modulation, but dietary and/or therapeutic interventions are possible
• Healthy gut microbiota is crucial for maintaining health
• Therapeutic strategies for modulating gut microbiota include prebiotics, probiotics, synbiotics, FMT, phage therapy, and miRNA modulation

Probiotic Microorganisms

• Probiotics are live microorganisms that offer a health benefit when administered in appropriate amounts
• Human probiotic microorganisms mainly include Lactobacillus, Bifidobacterium, and Lactococcus, Streptococcus, Enterococcus, Bacillus and Saccharomyces
• Probiotic selection criteria include safety factors such as human or animal origin and history of safe use, absence of antibiotic resistance genes
• Also, functionality is important, such as resistance to bile salts and enzymes
• Probiotic selection criteria include technological usability, considering easy production, high biomass, viability, and stability during processing, high storage survival, and guaranteeing sensory properties

Mechanisms of Beneficial Effects of Probiotics

• Antagonism through antimicrobial substances
• Competition with pathogens for nutrients
• Immunomodulation of the host
• Positive effects on metabolism
• Inhibition of bacterial toxin production

Probiotics and Inflammatory Bowel Diseases

• Probiotics are shown to help with remission of ulcerative colitis.
• Probiotics show no positive effects on Crohn's disease.
• Improved treatment of lactose intolerance, irritable bowel syndrome.

Probiotics and Cancer

• Animal studies suggest probiotics may reduce the risk of colorectal cancer
• However, those same benefits have not been confirmed in clinical trials
• Probiotics can improve the gut mucosal barrier and alleviate gastrointestinal issues in cancer patients

Probiotics and Diarrhoea & Intestinal Infections

• Saccharomyces boulardii yeast helps cure and reduce frequency of acute watery diarrhoea
• Probiotics are effective in treating nosocomial, non-nosocomial and viral diarrhoeas
• Probiotics can increase IgA antibodies thus arresting viral infections.
• Probiotics effectively treat antibiotic-associated diarrhoea and Clostridium difficile disease

Probiotics and Extraintestinal Infections

• Probiotics are shown to prevent vaginitis.
• Probiotics help reduce respiratory tract infections.
• Probiotic administration showed significant reduction in pulmonary exacerbations in children with cystic fibrosis
• Probiotics reduced the incidence of nosocomial infections

Probiotics and Metabolic Disorders

• Probiotic administration can reduce BMI and arterial blood pressure
• Probiotic administration might improve lipid profiles and insulin sensitivity in obese patients

Probiotics and Atopic Dermatitis

• Probiotic administration to pregnant women and their infants can reduce the cumulative prevalence of eczema in infants
• Increased severity of AD with an improved IFN-γ and IL-10 ratio was observed when applying probiotics to children with eczema

Probiotics and Other Outcomes

• Probiotics improve cardiometabolic parameters
• Probiotics lessen serum CRP levels in type 2 diabetes patients
• Probiotics show benefit in various diseases in studies including, preventing diarrhoea, necrotizing enterocolitis, and more
• Probiotics and clinical trials showed a possible beneficial effect on preventing and treating various health conditions in randomized, controlled trails

Synbiotics

• Synbiotics combine prebiotics and probiotics to improve the survival and proliferation of probiotics in the gastrointestinal tract
• Synbiotics enhance probiotic tolerance to environmental factors such as oxygenation, pH, and temperature in the gut

Metabolites

• Gut microbiome-associated metabolites play crucial roles in human diseases.
• Metabolites can help treat local inflammation, improve cardiometabolic health, and target neurological disorders.
• Therapeutic strategies are based on their characteristics, such as bioavailability, high concentrations, easy administration, and tissue tolerance.

SCFAs (Short-Chain Fatty Acids)

• SCFAs, especially butyrate, exhibit anti-inflammatory effects in local and systemic disorders and the gut-brain axis
• Oral SCFA administration can mitigate inflammatory encephalitis and autoimmune multiple sclerosis
• Colon-delivered SCFAs help reduce hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis stress responses and counteract mood disorders

Other Novel Approaches

• miRNAs play a key role in maintaining homeostasis, affecting gene expression
• Hyaluronan, an unbranched glycosaminoglycan, is involved in promoting and resolving IBD through immune cell recruitment
• Nanomaterials may influence cancer-causing dysbiotic microorganisms and their metabolites

Explore the roles of prebiotics and probiotics in modulating the gut microbiome. Learn about common prebiotics, their health benefits, and how they support probiotic growth. This quiz will deepen your understanding of nutritional strategies for gut health.