Probiotics Williams, Nancy Toedter
American journal of health-system pharmacy,
03/2010, Volume:
67, Issue:
6
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
The pharmacology, uses, dosages, safety, drug interactions, and contraindications of probiotics are reviewed.
Probiotics are live nonpathogenic microorganisms administered to improve microbial ...balance, particularly in the gastrointestinal tract. They consist of Saccharomyces boulardii yeast or lactic acid bacteria, such as Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium species, and are regulated as dietary supplements and foods. Probiotics exert their beneficial effects through various mechanisms, including lowering intestinal pH, decreasing colonization and invasion by pathogenic organisms, and modifying the host immune response. Probiotic benefits associated with one species or strain do not necessarily hold true for others. The strongest evidence for the clinical effectiveness of probiotics has been in the treatment of acute diarrhea, most commonly due to rotavirus, and pouchitis. More research is needed to clarify the role of probiotics for preventing antibiotic-associated diarrhea, Clostridium difficile infection, travelers' diarrhea, irritable bowel syndrome, ulcerative colitis, Crohn's disease, and vulvovaginal candidiasis. There is no consensus about the minimum number of microorganisms that must be ingested to obtain a beneficial effect; however, a probiotic should typically contain several billion microorganisms to increase the chance that adequate gut colonization will occur. Probiotics are generally considered safe and well tolerated, with bloating and flatulence occurring most frequently. They should be used cautiously in patients who are critically ill or severely immunocompromised or those with central venous catheters since systemic infections may rarely occur. Bacteria-derived probiotics should be separated from antibiotics by at least two hours.
Probiotics have demonstrated efficacy in preventing and treating various medical conditions, particularly those involving the gastrointestinal tract. Data supporting their role in other conditions are often conflicting.
Many studies suggest the answer to this question is yes. A recent meta-analysis and updated systematic review of 11 randomized controlled trials involving 2,176 infants confirmed the benefits of ...probiotic supplementation. The incidence of necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) in this study was reduced by 30 percent.1 The authors concluded that probiotics should be offered as routine therapy for preterm infants.
In recent decades, functional foods with ingredients comprising probiotics, prebiotics and postbiotics have been gaining a lot of attention from scientists. Probiotics and postbiotics are usually ...applied in pharmaceutical formulations and/or commercial food-based products. These bioactive agents can be associated with host eukaryotic cells and have a key role in maintaining and restoring host health. The review describes the concept of postbiotics, their quality control and potential applications in pharmaceutical formulations and commercial food-based products for health promotion, prevention of disease and complementary treatment. Despite the effectiveness of probiotic products, researchers have introduced the concept of postbiotic to optimize their beneficial effects as well as to meet the needs of consumers to provide a safe product. The finding of recent studies suggests that postbiotics might be appropriate alternative agents for live probiotic cells and can be applied in medical, veterinary and food practice to prevent and to treat some diseases, promote animal health status and develop functional foods. Presently scientific literature confirms that postbiotics, as potential alternative agents, may have superiority in terms of safety relative to their parent live cells, and due to their unique characteristics in terms of clinical, technological and economical aspects, can be applied as promising tools in the drug and food industry for developing health benefits, and therapeutic aims.
The aim of this study was to determine the effects of probiotics-feeding on the gene expression and protein localization of avian beta-defensins (AvBDs) in the proventriculus of broiler chicks. Male ...broiler chicks were arranged in 3 groups: control group, probiotics group I and probiotics group II, which were fed with starter rations containing 0%, 0.2% or 0.4% probiotics, respectively, from day 0 (D0; at one day old) to D14. Proventriculi in all groups were collected at D0, D7 and D14 for analysis of AvBDs expression and AvBD12 protein localization. The expression of AvBDs genes was examined by reverse transcription-PCR and changes in the expression upon probiotics-feeding were examined by real-time PCR. The AvBD12 localization was examined by immunohistochemistry, and density of immunoreaction products was examined by image analysis under a microscope. Out of 14 AvBDs genes, seven AvBDs were detected in the proventriculus of chicks, namely, AvBD1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 10 and 12. The expression of the 7 detected genes did not show any significant differences between control and probiotics groups at D7 and D14. The immunoreactive (ir) -AvBD12 was localized in surface epithelium and cells in the connective tissues of proventricular glands. The ir-AvBD12 density in surface epithelium was significantly higher at D7 than at D0 or D14 in control group. At D7 and D14, the ir-AvBD12 density was significantly lower in probiotics groups than in control group. The ir-AvBD12 cells in proventricular gland increased in number with age; however, there were no significant differences between control and probiotics groups at D7 and D14. These results suggest that, although probiotics-feeding does not affect the gene expression of AvBDs, it may induce AvBD12 secretion from the surface epithelium of the proventriculus in broiler chicks.
Aims
To investigate the metabolic effects of 12‐week oral supplementation with
Lactobacillus reuteri DSM 17938 in patients with type 2 diabetes on insulin therapy.
Materials and methods
In a ...double‐blind trial, we randomized 46 people with type 2 diabetes to placebo or a low (108 CFU/d) or high dose (1010 CFU/d) of
L. reuteri DSM 17938 for 12 weeks. The primary endpoint was the effect of supplementation on glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c). Secondary endpoints were insulin sensitivity (assessed by glucose clamp), liver fat content, body composition, body fat distribution, faecal microbiota composition and serum bile acids.
Results
Supplementation with
L. reuteri DSM 17938 for 12 weeks did not affect HbA1c, liver steatosis, adiposity or microbiota composition. Participants who received the highest dose of
L. reuteri exhibited increases in insulin sensitivity index (ISI) and serum levels of the secondary bile acid deoxycholic acid (DCA) compared with baseline, but these differences were not significant in the between‐group analyses. Post hoc analysis showed that participants who responded with increased ISI after
L. reuteri supplementation had higher microbial diversity at baseline, and increased serum levels of DCA after supplementation. In addition, increases in DCA levels correlated with improvement in insulin sensitivity in the probiotic recipients.
Conclusions
Intake of
L. reuteri DSM 17938 for 12 weeks did not affect HbA1c in people with type 2 diabetes on insulin therapy; however,
L. reuteri improved insulin sensitivity in a subset of participants and we propose that high diversity of the gut microbiota at baseline may be important.
Display omitted
Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a chronic inflammatory autoimmune disease of the central nervous system (CNS). Recent reports have shown that probiotics can induce immunomodulatory ...activity with promising effects in inflammatory diseases. This study was designed to reveal the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying the effect of Lactobacillus plantarum A7, which comprises human commensal bacteria, and Bifidobacterium animalis, a potential probiotic strain, on alleviation of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), an animal model of MS.
To evaluate the therapeutic effects of probiotic strains, female C57BL/6 mice (8–10 wks old) received Lactobacillus plantarum A7, Bifidobacterium animalis PTCC 1631or a mixture of both strains through oral administration daily for 22days beginning simultaneous with induction of EAE. The clinical parameters were recorded daily. On Day 22, each mouse was bled, and their spinal cord was removed for histology analysis. The effects of the treatments on regulatory T (Treg) cells level were evaluated using flow cytometry, and T-cell proliferation was assessed using a BrdU incorporation assay. The supernatants of spleen and lymph nodes cultured and mononuclear cells were collected for quantification of different panel of pro and anti-inflammatory cytokines by ELISA. The analysis of gene expression was performed at RNA level for transcription factors by real-time PCR.
The results showed that treatment with a mixture of the two strains caused a more significant delay in the time of disease onset and clinical score compared to when the strains were used alone. The pathological features of the disease, such as mononuclear infiltration into the CNS, were also inhibited more significantly by the combinational approach. The results also revealed that treatment with combination of both strains enhanced the population of CD4+CD25+Foxp3+-expressing T-cells in the lymph nodes and the spleen.
with our probiotic strains markedly inhibited disease associated cytokines while increased anti-inflammatory cytokines. Additionally, L. plantarumA7 and B. animalis ameliorated EAE condition by favoring Th2 and Treg differentiation via up-regulation of Foxp3 and GATA3 in the brain and spleen as well as inhibited the differentiation of Th1 and Th17 cells.
The current research provided evidence that probiotic therapy with L. plantarum and B. animalis can effectively attenuate EAE progression as well as reinforce the polarization of regulatory T-cells.
Oscillospira is a class of organism that often appears in high-throughput sequencing data but has not been purely cultured and is widely present in the animal and human intestines. There is a strong ...association between variation in Oscillospira abundance and obesity, leanness, and human health. In addition, a growing body of studies has shown that Oscillospira is also implicated in other diseases, such as gallstones and chronic constipation, and has shown some correlation with the positive or negative changes in its course. Sequencing data combined with metabolic profiling indicate that Oscillospira is likely to be a genus capable of producing short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) such as butyrate, which is an important reference indicator for screening "next-generation probiotics ". Considering the positive effects of Oscillospira in some specific diseases, such as obesity-related metabolic diseases, it has already been characterized as one of the next-generation probiotic candidates and therefore has great potential for development and application in the future food, health care, and biopharmaceutical products.
PDF