Restoration of gut dysbiosis through Clostridium butyricum and magnesium possibly balance blood glucose levels: an experimental study

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a chronic metabolic disorder characterized by an elevated level of blood glucose due to the absence of insulin secretion, ineffectiveness, or lack of uptake of secreted insulin in the body. The improperly diagnosed and poorly managed DM can cause severe damage to organs in the body like the nerves, eyes, heart, and kidneys. This study was aimed at investigating the effect of Clostridium butyricum (probiotic) with magnesium supplementation to evaluate the effect on gut microbial dysbiosis and blood glucose levels. In the laboratory, 6-8 weeks old 24 male albino rats weighing 200-250 g were given free access to water and food. Diabetes was induced using streptozotocin (60 mg/kg) in overnight fasted rats. Diabetic rats were randomly divided into four groups (n = 6, 6 replicates in each group). Metformin (100 mg/kg/day) with a standard basal diet was provided to control group (G0), Clostridium butyricum (1.5 × 105 CFU/day) with standard basal diet was provided to treatment group (G1), magnesium (500 mg/kg/day) was provided to group (G2). Clostridium butyricum (1.5 × 105 CFU/day) and magnesium (300 mg/kg/day) in combination with a standard basal diet was provided to group (G3). Blood Glucose, Magnesium blood test and microbial assay were done. Random blood glucose levels were monitored twice a week for 21 days and were represented as mean of each week. The results conclude that Clostridium butyricum (1.5 × 105 CFU) is very effective in balancing random blood glucose levels from 206.6 ± 67.7 to 85.1 ± 3.8 (p = 0.006) compared to other groups (p > 0.005). The results of stool analysis showed that Clostridium butyricum as probiotic restores microbial dysbiosis as evident by the 105 CFU Clostridium butyricum load in G1, which was higher than G0, G2 and G3 which were 103 and 104 CFU respectively. The findings of this study conclude that Clostridium butyricum supplementation improved blood glucose levels and intestinal bacterial load in type II diabetes mellitus.

Kinetics-based development of two-stage continuous fermentation of 1,3-propanediol from crude glycerol by Clostridium butyricum

BACKGROUND

Glycerol, as a by-product, mainly derives from the conversion of many crops to biodiesel, ethanol, and fatty ester. Its bioconversion to 1,3-propanediol (1,3-PDO) is an environmentally friendly method. Continuous fermentation has many striking merits over fed-batch and batch fermentation, such as high product concentration with easy feeding operation, long-term high productivity without frequent seed culture, and energy-intensive sterilization. However, it is usually difficult to harvest high product concentrations.

RESULTS

In this study, a three-stage continuous fermentation was firstly designed to produce 1,3-PDO from crude glycerol by Clostridium butyricum, in which the first stage fermentation was responsible for providing the excellent cells in a robust growth state, the second stage focused on promoting 1,3-PDO production, and the third stage aimed to further boost the 1,3-PDO concentration and reduce the residual glycerol concentration as much as possible. Through the three-stage continuous fermentation, 80.05 g/L 1,3-PDO as the maximum concentration was produced while maintaining residual glycerol of 5.87 g/L, achieving a yield of 0.48 g/g and a productivity of 3.67 g/(L·h). Based on the 14 sets of experimental data from the first stage, a kinetic model was developed to describe the intricate relationships among the concentrations of 1,3-PDO, substrate, biomass, and butyrate. Subsequently, this kinetic model was used to optimize and predict the highest 1,3-PDO productivity of 11.26 g/(L·h) in the first stage fermentation, while the glycerol feeding concentration and dilution rate were determined to be 92 g/L and 0.341 h-1, separately. Additionally, to achieve a target 1,3-PDO production of 80 g/L without the third stage fermentation, the predicted minimum volume ratio of the second fermenter to the first one was 11.9. The kinetics-based two-stage continuous fermentation was experimentally verified well with the predicted results.

CONCLUSION

A novel three-stage continuous fermentation and a kinetic model were reported. Then a simpler two-stage continuous fermentation was developed based on the optimization of the kinetic model. This kinetics-based development of two-stage continuous fermentation could achieve high-level production of 1,3-PDO. Meanwhile, it provides a reference for other bio-chemicals production by applying kinetics to optimize multi-stage continuous fermentation.

Gut microbiota dynamics and fecal SCFAs after colonoscopy: accelerating microbiome stabilization by Clostridium butyricum

BACKGROUND

Colonoscopy is a classic diagnostic method with possible complications including abdominal pain and diarrhoea. In this study, gut microbiota dynamics and related metabolic products during and after colonoscopy were explored to accelerate gut microbiome balance through probiotics.

METHODS

The gut microbiota and fecal short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) were analyzed in four healthy subjects before and after colonoscopy, along with seven individuals supplemented with Clostridium butyricum. We employed 16S rRNA sequencing and GC-MS to investigate these changes. We also conducted bioinformatic analysis to explore the buk gene, encoding butyrate kinase, across C. butyricum strains from the human gut.

RESULTS

The gut microbiota and fecal short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) of four healthy subjects were recovered on the 7th day after colonoscopy. We found that Clostridium and other bacteria might have efficient butyric acid production through bioinformatic analysis of the buk and assessment of the transcriptional level of the buk. Supplementation of seven healthy subjects with Clostridium butyricum after colonoscopy resulted in a quicker recovery and stabilization of gut microbiota and fecal SCFAs on the third day.

CONCLUSION

We suggest that supplementation of Clostridium butyricum after colonoscopy should be considered in future routine clinical practice.