The effect of probiotic treatment withClostridium butyricumon enterohemorrhagicEscherichia coliO157:H7 infection in mice

Abstract

Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) O157:H7 has been considered as an agent responsible for outbreak of hemorrhagic colitis and the hemolytic uremic syndrome. We examined the effect of the probiotic agent Clostridium butyricum MIYAIRI strain 588 on EHEC O157:H7 infections in vitro and in vivo using gnotobiotic mice. The growth of EHEC O157:H7 and the production of Shiga-like toxins in broth cultures were inhibited by co-incubation with C. butyricum. The antibacterial effects of butyric and lactic acid were demonstrated in a dose-dependent manner. In addition, the inhibitory effect of butyric acid on the viability of EHEC was demonstrated not only at low pH, but also at neutral pH adjusted to 7.0. Flowcytometric analysis showed that pre-incubation of Caco-2 cells with C. butyricum and E. coli K12 inhibited the adhesion of EHEC O157:H7. However, the effect of C. butyricum on adhesion of EHEC to Caco-2 cells was more inhibitory than that of E. coli K12. Gnotobiotic mice mono-associated with EHEC O157:H7 died within 4-7 days after the infection. On the other hand, all gnotobiotic mice prophylactically pre-treated with C. butyricum survived exposure to EHEC O157:H7 and of the gnotobiotic mice therapeutically post-treated with C. butyricum, 50% survived. Both counts of EHEC O157:H7 and the amounts of shiga-like toxins (Stx1 and Stx2) in fecal contents of gnotobiotic mice di-associated with EHEC O157:H7 and C. butyricum were less than those of gnotobiotic mice mono-associated with EHEC O157:H7. These results indicated that the probiotic bacterium C. butyricum MIYAIRI strain 588 has preventive and therapeutic effects on EHEC O157:H7 infection in gnotobiotic mice.

Butyrate upregulates endogenous host defense peptides to enhance disease resistance in piglets via histone deacetylase inhibition

“…Although the mechanism remains elusive, the proposed explanation is that butyrate production induces bactericidal effects in vivo 44 and that butyrate can inhibit bacterial growth at high doses45. Similarly, our results showed that high butyrate concentrations (256 or 512 mmol/L) were required to kill or inhibit bacterial growth in vitro (see Supplementary Fig.…”

Inhibitory effect of Lactobacillus plantarum and Lb. fermentum isolated from the faeces of healthy infants against nonfermentative bacteria causing nosocomial infections

“…These results are in agreement with previously reported findings that different strains of lactobacilli inhibit the growth of bacteria such as Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, P. aeruginosa, Klebsiella pneumoniae, and Burkholderia cepacia [18], [19]. Others have reported that lactobacilli had an inhibitory effect on the growth of both Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria [20].…”

L. plantarum prevents Enteroinvasive Escherichia coli-induced tight junction proteins changes in intestinal epithelial cells

“…Probiotics are reported to exert their beneficial effects by producing bacteriostatic or bactericidal agents [17,18], competitively excluding pathogenic bacteria [9], or regulating immunomodulatory effects [19,20]. Johnson-Henry KC et al [10] reported that with probiotic pretreatment there was corresponding attenuation of the Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) O157:H7-induced drop in electrical resistance and the increase in barrier permeability assays.…”