Prebiotics Modulate the Effects of Antibiotics on Gut Microbial Diversity and Functioning in Vitro.

ABSTRACT: Intestinal bacteria carry out many fundamental roles, such as the fermentation of non-digestible dietary carbohydrates to produce short chain fatty acids (SCFAs), which can affect host energy levels and gut hormone regulation. Understanding how to manage this ecosystem to improve human health is an important but challenging goal. Antibiotics are the front line of defence against pathogens, but in turn they have adverse effects on indigenous microbial diversity and function. Here, we have investigated whether dietary supplementation--another method used to modulate gut composition and function--could be used to ameliorate the side effects of antibiotics. We perturbed gut bacterial communities with gentamicin and ampicillin in anaerobic batch cultures in vitro. Cultures were supplemented wit

SUBMITTER: Johnson LP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4488797 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature