WHAT ARE POSTBIOTICS?
Postbiotics are a broad collection of health-pro- moting soluble compounds and substances secret- ed by microorganisms or released after bacterial lysis. Examples of these compounds, also referred to as metabiotics, include microbial proteins/pep- tides, enzymes (e.g. superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GPx)), organic acids, short chain fatty acids (SCFAs), vitamins, cofactors, cell- free supernatants, exopolysaccharides, cell wall fragments, carbohydrates, bacterial lysates, im- mune-signalling molecules, bacteriocins, metab- olites, neurotransmitters, flavonoids, terpenoids, and phenolic derivatives. Postbiotics have many potential benefits for the human body, in partic- ularly for gut, immune, vascular and neurological functions (Puccetti et al., 2020), but also for infec- tion and atherosclerosis prevention, and wound healing (Żółkiewicz et al., 2020). PREBIOTICS VS PROBIOTICS VS POSTBIOTICS: WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE? Prebiotics are food compounds that promote and support the growth and activity of beneficial gut
microorganisms. Probiotics, also known as ‘live biotherapeutics’, contain entire live microorgan- isms (such as bacteria and/or yeast). When they are applied in adequate amounts, they can help in balancing gut microbiota and consequently bring many health benefits including disease prevention and treatment of certain conditions. As the un- derstanding of probiotics and their mechanisms have developed it has become evident that many of their benefits are derived from their byproducts (secretions and internal compounds). These relat- ed compounds have now been defined as a sepa- rate biotic therapy – postbiotics.
POSTBIOTICS AND THEIR MICROBIAL PRODUCERS
Postbiotics are a highly varied array of compounds. They encompass microbial products and compo- nents such as short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), mi- crobial fractions, functional proteins and enzymes, secreted and/or extracellular polysaccharides (EPS), cell lysates, teichoic and lipoteichoic acids, and peptidoglycan-derived muropeptides (Valle- jo-Cordoba et al., 2020).
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