Clostridium butyricum improves the intestinal health of goats by regulating the intestinal microbial community

The Potential of Clostridium butyricum to Preserve Gut Health, and to Mitigate Non-AIDS Comorbidities in People Living with HIV

A dramatic reduction in mortality among people living with HIV (PLWH) has been achieved during the modern antiretroviral therapy (ART) era. However, ART does not restore gut barrier function even after long-term viral suppression, allowing microbial products to enter the systemic blood circulation and induce chronic immune activation. In PLWH, a chronic state of systemic inflammation exists and persists, which increases the risk of development of inflammation-associated non-AIDS comorbidities such as metabolic disorders, cardiovascular diseases, and cancer. Clostridium butyricum is a human butyrate-producing symbiont present in the gut microbiome. Convergent evidence has demonstrated favorable effects of C. butyricum for gastrointestinal health, including maintenance of the structural and functional integrity of the gut barrier, inhibition of pathogenic bacteria within the intestine, and reduction of microbial translocation. Moreover, C. butyricum supplementation has been observed to have a positive effect on various inflammation-related diseases such as diabetes, ulcerative colitis, and cancer, which are also recognized as non-AIDS comorbidities associated with epithelial gut damage. There is currently scant published research in the literature, focusing on the influence of C. butyricum in the gut of PLWH. In this hypothesis review, we speculate the use of C. butyricum as a probiotic oral supplementation may well emerge as a potential future synergistic adjunctive strategy in PLWH, in tandem with ART, to restore and consolidate intestinal barrier integrity, repair the leaky gut, prevent microbial translocation from the gut, and reduce both gut and systemic inflammation, with the ultimate objective of decreasing the risk for development of non-AIDS comorbidities in PLWH.

A Comprehensive Review on Biotransformation, Interaction, and Health of Gut Microbiota and Bioactive Components

BACKGROUND

The relationship between gut microbiota and bioactive components has become the research focus in the world. We attempted to clarify the relationship between biotransformation and metabolites of gut microbiota and bioactive components, and explore the metabolic pathway and mechanism of bioactive ingredients in vivo, which will provide an important theoretical basis for the clinical research of bioactive ingredients and rationality of drugs, and also provide an important reference for the development of new drugs with high bioavailability.

METHODS

The related references of this review on microbiota and bioactive components were collected from both online and offline databases, such as ScienceDirect, PubMed, Elsevier, Willy, SciFinder, Google Scholar, Web of Science, Baidu Scholar, SciHub, Scopus, and CNKI.

RESULTS

This review summarized the biotransformation of bioactive components under the action of gut microbiota, including flavonoids, terpenoids, phenylpropanoids, alkaloids, steroids, and other compounds. The interaction of bioactive components and gut microbiota is a key link for drug efficacy. Relevant research is crucial to clarify bioactive components and their mechanisms, which involve the complex interaction among bioactive components, gut microbiota, and intestinal epithelial cells. This review also summarized the individualized, precise, and targeted intervention of gut microbiota in the field of intestinal microorganisms from the aspects of dietary fiber, microecological agents, fecal microbiota transplantation, and postbiotics. It will provide an important reference for intestinal microecology in the field of nutrition and health for people.

CONCLUSION

To sum up, the importance of human gut microbiota in the research of bioactive components metabolism and transformation has attracted the attention of scholars all over the world. It is believed that with the deepening of research, human gut microbiota will be more widely used in the pharmacodynamic basis, drug toxicity relationship, new drug discovery, drug absorption mechanism, and drug transport mechanism in the future.

Effects of Clostridium butyricum on Intestinal Microflora and Metabolism of Eriocheir sinensis

Clostridium butyricum, a new probiotic in recent years, can produce butyric acid and short-chain fatty acids. It has the characteristics of strong acid and alkali resistance, high temperature resistance, and strong resistance to most antibiotics, and has more advantages than other probiotics. However, the action mechanism of C. butyricum on Eriocheir sinensis is still unclear and needs further study. In this study, when C. butyricum was added to the basic diet, the number of living bacteria was 0, 1 × 106 and 1 × 108 CFU/g, respectively. The E. sinensis were randomly divided into three groups: (blank control group, experimental group 1 (1 × 106 CFU/g) and experimental group 2 (1 × 108 CFU/g)). They were fed an experimental diet for 28 days. The effects of C. butyricum on E. sinensis were studied by detecting the differences in non-specific immune indexes, intestinal microflora, and metabolites between serum and hepatopancreas. The results showed that C. butyricum could improve the antioxidant ability of E. sinensis serum and hepatopancreas, protect intestinal tissues, and promote the absorption of nutrients. At the same time, it can enhance the microbial diversity and richness of the E. sinensis gut flora. LC-MS metabolomics was used to detect the metabolism of intestinal flora. It was found that C. butyricum could up-regulate lysophosphatidylcholine in the intestine. Through the KEGG enrichment pathway, it was found that significantly different metabolites were mainly concentrated in six metabolic pathways. The purine metabolism and alanine, aspartate, and glutamate metabolism pathways showed a downward trend, indicating that the addition of C. butyricum to feed could reduce purine metabolism, promote the water-salt balance of the organism's cells, and reduce inflammation. In this study, it was found that the addition of certain concentrations of C. butyricum to feed could improve the antioxidant ability of E. sinensis, improve the intestinal flora environment, and promote the growth of beneficial bacteria in the gut. This can promote the body's metabolism, which is more conducive to its growth.

Effects of dietary Clostridium butyricum on the growth performance, digestion, and intestinal health of spotted sea bass (Lateolabrax maculatus)

Clostridium butyricum (CB) is known to promote growth, enhance immunity, promote digestion, and improve intestinal health. In this study, we investigated the effects of CB in the feed on growth performance, digestion, and intestinal health of juvenile spotted sea bass. To provide a theoretical basis for the development and application of CB in the feed of spotted sea bass, a total of 450 spotted sea bass with an initial body weight of (9.58 ± 0.05) g were randomly divided into six groups. Gradient levels with 0, 0.1%, 0.2%, 0.3%, 0.4%, and 0.5% of CB (1×10⁹ cfu/g) were supplemented into diets, designated as CC, CB1, CB2, CB3, CB4, and CB5, respectively. Each group was fed for 54 days. Our results suggest that dietary 0.2% and 0.3% of CB can significantly increase the weight gain (WG) and specific growth rate (SGR) of spotted sea bass. The addition of CB significantly increased intestinal amylase activity, intestinal villus length, intestinal villus width, and intestinal muscle thickness. Similarly, CB supplementation increased the expression of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interleukin-8 (IL-8). Sequence analysis of the bacterial 16S rDNA region showed that dietary CB altered the intestinal microbiota profile of juvenile spotted sea bass, increasing the dominant bacteria in the intestine and decreasing the harmful bacteria. Overall, dietary addition of CB can improve growth performance, enhance intestinal immunity, improve intestinal flora structure, and comprehensively improve the health of spotted sea bass.

Clostridium butyricum alleviates LPS-induced acute immune stress in goats by regulating bacterial communities and blood metabolites

The mitigation and prevention of acute immune stress are essential for livestock production. Clostridium butyricum (C. butyricum) has shown positive effects in stabilizing intestinal microbiota disorders, improving immune function and inhibiting disease development, but its effects on ruminants are unclear. Therefore, the current trial hypothesized that C. butyricum could improve goats' immune function and antioxidant capacity by regulating bacterial communities and blood metabolism and effectively alleviating the acute immune stress induced by Lipopolysaccharides (LPS). Sixteen healthy goats were fed C. butyricum for 70 days, and the goats were challenged with LPS on day 71. Blood and feces were collected at 0 h and 6 h after the challenge to evaluate the effects of C. butyricum on their intestinal microbiota, immune function, antioxidant function, and plasma metabolites. The results showed that C. butyricum had no significant effect on plasma biochemical parameters at the beginning of the LPS challenge. However, supplementation with C. butyricum increased plasma levels of IgA, IgG, T-SOD, and T-AOC (P < 0.05), but TNF-α, IL-6, and MDA were decreased (P < 0.05). In contrast, IL-10 showed an increasing trend (P < 0.10). Rectal microbiota analysis showed that C. butyricum significantly increased the relative abundance of Epsilonbacteraeota at the phylum level of goats; at the genus level, the relative abundances of Campylobacter and Anaerorhabdus]_furcosa_group were also significantly increased (P < 0.05). Christensenellaceae_R-7_group as the dominant microbiota also showed a significant increase in their abundance values, while Clostridium and Lachnospiraceae_UCG-001 were significantly lower (P < 0.05). When the LPS challenge continued up to 6 h, dietary supplementation with C. butyricum still resulted in significantly higher plasma concentrations of IgA, IL-10, and T-SOD in goats than in the control group, reducing TNF-α levels (P < 0.05). In addition, plasma levels of T-CHOL and LDL were significantly reduced, and the expression of d-proline was significantly upregulated according to metabolomic analysis (P < 0.05). In conclusion, dietary supplementation with C. butyricum helped optimize the expression of bacterial communities and plasma metabolites to enhance the ability of goats to alleviate acute immune stress.