In vitro testing system for the impact of probiotics and prebiotics on the maintenance of human gut microbiota
Microbiota, defined as an ecological community of microorganisms living on and in a host, is increasingly being recognized as playing a significant role in determining human health and wellbeing. Microbiota changes through life and reflects the lifestyle, nutritional habits and medication usage of the host. However, some changes in the microbiota have been linked to diseased states ranging from gastrointestinal, metabolic and even diseases like Alzheimer's disease. Obesity is also one of the diseases believed to be linked to microbiota and there are efforts to treat it by affecting the microbiota. There are several ways to affect microbiota – the most common being the administration of probiotics and prebiotics. In this work, the effects of administration of probiotic bacteria correlated to weight loss and prebiotic on the composition of gastrointestinal microbiota of obese persons are assessed. For that purpose, we have used the in vitro system simulating distal part of the human colon and changes in the microbiota were assessed by 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Results indicate that the addition of both probiotic and prebiotic changes the composition of gastrointestinal microbiota with a distinct pattern, as assessed by the Before-After Control-Impact design analysis. Also observed, was the reduction of bacterial biodiversity with elapsed time in the in vitro system.