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Title: Searching for Synbiotics to increase Colonic Butyrate Concentration

Author
item Li, Robert
item Li, Congjun - Cj

Submitted to: Meeting Proceedings
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/24/2012
Publication Date: 8/24/2012
Citation: Li, R.W., Li, C. 2012. Searching for Synbiotics to increase Colonic Butyrate Concentrations. In: Functional Foods and chronicle Inflammation; Science and practicaal application, Vol II (ed. D.M. Mastirosyan). pp. 69-71.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Butyrate is produced by microbial fermentation of plant fiber in the gut and a preferred substrate for gut epithelial cells. In ruminants, butyrate contributes to 70% of energy metabolism. In monogastric species, butyrate also plays an important role in energy metabolism in the hindgut. Moreover, butyrate acts as an inhibitor of histone deacetylases (HDACs) via physical binding as well as transcriptional controls, resulting in apoptosis, inhibition of proliferation, and suppression of inflammation. As a result, butyrate induces a profound change in gene expression, altering transcript abundance of ~63% genes in the epithelial transcriptome. While probiotic approaches, such as oral administration of Butyrivibrio fibrisolvens MDT-1, have been tested to prevent the formation of aberrant crypt foci in the colon, it is suggested that it is prebiotics that drive the changes in gut metabolic profiles, especially the colonic butyrate concentration. In this study, we discuss our strategies to identify the optimal combination of pre- and probiotics (synbiotics) that results in a persistent increase of the colonic butyrate concentration and to understand the regulatory mechanisms of microbial butyrogenic pathways and in vivo effect of butyrate on the colonic transcriptome in ruminant and porcine models using RNA-seq technology and metagenomic tools.