Prebiotics/Probiotics Mixture Induced Changes in Cecal Microbiome and Intestinal Morphology Alleviated Constipation in Mice

Min Guk Kim¹^,^†, Kyungae Jo¹^,^†, Kyoungwon Cho², Sung Sun Park², Hyung Joo Suh¹^,³^,^*, Ki-Bae Hong⁴^,^*

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¹Department of Integrated Biomedical and Life Science, Graduate School, Korea University, Seoul 02841, Korea

²Chong Kun Dang Healthcare Co., Seoul 04300, Korea

³Transdisciplinary Major in Learning Health Systems, Department of Healthcare Sciences, Graduate 10 School, Korea University, Seoul 02841, Korea

⁴Department of Food Science and Nutrition, Jeju National University, Jeju 63243, Korea

† These authors contributed equally to this work.

^*Corresponding Author: Hyung Joo Suh, Department of Integrated Biomedical and Life Science, Graduate School, Korea University, Seoul 02841, Korea. E-mail: suh1960@korea.ac.kr.

^*Corresponding Author: Ki-Bae Hong, Jeju National University, Jeju 63243, Korea. E-mail: kbhong@jejunu.ac.kr.

© Copyright 2021 Korean Society for Food Science of Animal Resources. This is an Open-Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Received: Mar 12, 2021 ; Revised: Mar 23, 2021 ; Accepted: Mar 23, 2021

Published Online: Mar 26, 2021

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of a mixture of multi-strain probiotics and prebiotics on loperamide-induced constipation in Sprague-Dawley rats. A multi-strain probiotic alone (loperamide-induced group with multi-strain probiotic mixture group; Lop-Pro) and a mixture of multi-strain probiotics and prebiotics (loperamide-induced group with multi-strain probiotic and prebiotic mixture group; Lop-Pro/Pre) were administered orally after inducing constipation. The fecal water content was significantly higher (by 42%) in the Lop-Pro/Pre group (33.5%) than in the loperamide-induced group (Lop) (23.7%) (p<0.05). The intestinal mucosal thickness, crypt cell area, and interstitial cells of Cajal area were significantly higher in the Lop-Pro/Pre group compared to the Lop group by 16.4%, 20.6%, and 42.3%, respectively. Additionally, the total short-chain fatty acid content was significantly increased in the Lop-Pro and Lop-Pro/Pre groups by 56.4% and 54.2%, respectively, compared with the Lop group. The Lop-Pro and Lop-Pro/Pre groups recovered loperamide-induced alteration in Bacteroidetes and Verrucomicrobia abundance among intestinal microbiota, whereas the Lop-Pro/Pre group recovered Akkermansia, Lactobacillus, Clostridium, Bacteroides, and Oscillibacter abundance. Moreover, the relative abundance of Oscillibacter and Clostridium was significantly different in the Lop-Pro/Pre group compared to the Lop group. Collectively, administration of synbiotics rather than multi-strain probiotics alone is effective in alleviating constipation.

Keywords: constipation; multi-strain probiotics; loperamide; microbiota