Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2018 Jul 29;10(8):988.
doi: 10.3390/nu10080988.

The Potential of Gut Commensals in Reinforcing Intestinal Barrier Function and Alleviating Inflammation

Kaisa Hiippala  1 , Hanne Jouhten  2 , Aki Ronkainen  3 , Anna Hartikainen  4 , Veera Kainulainen  5 , Jonna Jalanka  6 , Reetta Satokari  7
Affiliations
Review

The Potential of Gut Commensals in Reinforcing Intestinal Barrier Function and Alleviating Inflammation

Kaisa Hiippala et al. Nutrients. .

Abstract

The intestinal microbiota, composed of pro- and anti-inflammatory microbes, has an essential role in maintaining gut homeostasis and functionality. An overly hygienic lifestyle, consumption of processed and fiber-poor foods, or antibiotics are major factors modulating the microbiota and possibly leading to longstanding dysbiosis. Dysbiotic microbiota is characterized to have altered composition, reduced diversity and stability, as well as increased levels of lipopolysaccharide-containing, proinflammatory bacteria. Specific commensal species as novel probiotics, so-called next-generation probiotics, could restore the intestinal health by means of attenuating inflammation and strengthening the epithelial barrier. In this review we summarize the latest findings considering the beneficial effects of the promising commensals across all major intestinal phyla. These include the already well-known bifidobacteria, which use extracellular structures or secreted substances to promote intestinal health. Faecalibacterium prausnitzii, Roseburia intestinalis, and Eubacterium hallii metabolize dietary fibers as major short-chain fatty acid producers providing energy sources for enterocytes and achieving anti-inflammatory effects in the gut. Akkermansia muciniphila exerts beneficial action in metabolic diseases and fortifies the barrier function. The health-promoting effects of Bacteroides species are relatively recently discovered with the findings of excreted immunomodulatory molecules. These promising, unconventional probiotics could be a part of biotherapeutic strategies in the future.

Keywords: anti-inflammatory; butyrate producing bacteria; commensal bacteria; dysbiosis; intestinal health; intestinal permeability; next generation probiotics.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Host-microbiota interactions affecting the epithelial barrier function.
Figure 2
Figure 2
The major short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) produced by gut microbiota and their health-promoting effects on the gut epithelium [54,55].
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Sender R., Fuchs S., Milo R. Revised Estimates for the Number of Human and Bacteria Cells in the Body. PLoS Biol. 2016;14:e1002533. doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.1002533. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Li J., Jia H., Cai X., Zhong H., Feng Q., Sunagawa S., Arumugam M., Kultima J.R., Prifti E., Nielsen T., et al. An integrated catalog of reference genes in the human gut microbiome. Nat. Biotechnol. 2014;32:834–841. doi: 10.1038/nbt.2942. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Rajilic-Stojanovic M., de Vos W.M. The first 1000 cultured species of the human gastrointestinal microbiota. FEMS Microbiol. Rev. 2014;38:996–1047. doi: 10.1111/1574-6976.12075. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Faith J.J., Guruge J.L., Charbonneau M., Subramanian S., Seedorf H., Goodman A.L., Clemente J.C., Knight R., Heath A.C., Leibel R.L., et al. The long-term stability of the human gut microbiota. Science. 2013;341:1237439. doi: 10.1126/science.1237439. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Salonen A., Salojarvi J., Lahti L., de Vos W.M. The adult intestinal core microbiota is determined by analysis depth and health status. Clin. Microbiol. Infect. 2012;18(Suppl. 4):16–20. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-0691.2012.03855.x. - DOI - PubMed

MeSH terms

Substances

LinkOut - more resources