Pathogens 2021 , 10 , 235
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Table 3. Effects on microbial community composition at the family level in the distal colon. Abundance (log counts/mL) of microbial families in the luminal environment of the distal colon (DC) of the human gastrointestinal tract at the end of the control (C; n = 3/donor) and the treatment (TR; n = 3/donor) period upon treatment with OFO at a dose of 1.4 g/d and POF at a dose of 1.4 g/d for three human donors tested. For optimal observation of consistent effects over the different donors tested, the average of the three donors is presented ( n = 3). The intensity of the shading correlates with the absolute abundance, which was normalised for each of the different families. Statistically significant differences relative to the control period are indicated in bold ( p < 0.05). Statistically significant differences between the different test products (i.e., TR–POF versus TR–OFO) are indicated with different letters (a, b), with conditions not sharing a similar letter being significantly different from each other ( p <0.05).
Distal Colon
POF
OFO
C
TR
C
TR
7.39 5.61 8.35 5.26 6.55 6.29 7.26 6.61 4.39 5.64 8.23 4.53 6.64 7.37 5.62 6.48 6.58 5.42 6.57 5.89 6.93 7.24
7.45 5.66 8.30 4.87 6.27 6.12 7.28 6.79 4.34 5.65 8.16 4.45 6.74 7.34 5.70 6.52 6.76 5.45 6.44 6.05 7.16 7.41
Bifidobacteriaceae Coriobacteriaceae Bacteroidaceae Muribaculaceae Prevotellaceae Rikenellaceae Acidaminococcaceae Enterococcaceae Erysipelotrichaceae Lachnospiraceae Lactobacillaceae Tannerellaceae Ruminococcaceae Veillonellaceae Fusobacteriaceae Burkholderiaceae Desulfovibrionaceae Enterobacteriaceae Pseudomonadaceae
8.26 5.31 8.20 6.23 6.95 5.74 7.84 7.22 6.11 4.86 8.28 8.25 6.12 8.04 6.34 6.73 6.79 6.36 5.52 6.51 7.52 7.67
8.13 4.93 8.04 6.02 7.22 6.10 7.64 6.94 7.88 8.27 6.76 5.90 7.36 7.66 6.31 6.94 7.63 6.48 6.33 7.27 7.77
Actinobacteria
Bacteroidetes
<LOD
Firmicutes
Fusobacteria
Proteobacteria
uncultured
Synergistetes
Synergistaceae Akkermansiaceae
Verrucomicrobia
2.3. In vitro–in vivo Comparison of Microbial Response to OFO Treatment In vitro, the prebiotic activity of OFO was characterised by a significant stimulation of lactobacilli and bifidobacteria in both the luminal and mucosal environment (Table 1). Therefore, selective primers were selected to analyse the levels of Lactobacillus spp. and Bifidobacterium spp. in the faecal samples collected during the in vivo trial by means of quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). During the in vivo trial, stimulation of Lactobacillus spp. was observed (Figure 3A). Indeed, significant stimulation of Lactobacillus species was observed at the end of the intervention period with OFO as compared to the control test product for the overall population ( p = 0.037) and in the population designated as ‘Group 2’, i.e., the group that received the investigational product during the second intervention period ( p = 0.017; Figure 3A). For Bifidobacterium levels (Figure 3B), no overall significant differences were observed between intervention with OFO and the control test product, although a trend towards increased Bifidobacterium levels was observed upon intervention with OFO in the ‘Group 1’ population (i.e., the group that received the investigational product during the first intervention period) ( p = 0.299). With respect to plasma SCFA levels, no statistically significant differences were observed between intervention with OFO and the control test product.
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