Search results for "gut"

Microbiota Gut–Brain Axis in Ischemic Stroke: A Narrative Review with a Focus about the Relationship with Inflammatory Bowel Disease

2021

The gut microbiota is emerging as an important player in neurodevelopment and aging as well as in brain diseases including stroke, Alzheimer’s disease, and Parkinson’s disease. The complex interplay between gut microbiota and the brain, and vice versa, has recently become not only the focus of neuroscience, but also the starting point for research regarding many diseases such as inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). The bi-directional interaction between gut microbiota and the brain is not completely understood. The aim of this review is to sum up the evidencesconcerningthe role of the gut–brain microbiota axis in ischemic stroke and to highlight the more recent evidences about the potential r…

Bacterial Vegetative Insecticidal Proteins (Vip) from Entomopathogenic Bacteria

2016

SUMMARY Entomopathogenic bacteria produce insecticidal proteins that accumulate in inclusion bodies or parasporal crystals (such as the Cry and Cyt proteins) as well as insecticidal proteins that are secreted into the culture medium. Among the latter are the Vip proteins, which are divided into four families according to their amino acid identity. The Vip1 and Vip2 proteins act as binary toxins and are toxic to some members of the Coleoptera and Hemiptera. The Vip1 component is thought to bind to receptors in the membrane of the insect midgut, and the Vip2 component enters the cell, where it displays its ADP-ribosyltransferase activity against actin, preventing microfilament formation. Vip3…

The Interplay between Nutrition, Innate Immunity, and the Commensal Microbiota in Adaptive Intestinal Morphogenesis

2021

The gastrointestinal tract is a functionally and anatomically segmented organ that is colonized by microbial communities from birth. While the genetics of mouse gut development is increasingly understood, how nutritional factors and the commensal gut microbiota act in concert to shape tissue organization and morphology of this rapidly renewing organ remains enigmatic. Here, we provide an overview of embryonic mouse gut development, with a focus on the intestinal vasculature and the enteric nervous system. We review how nutrition and the gut microbiota affect the adaptation of cellular and morphologic properties of the intestine, and how these processes are interconnected with innate immunit…

Prevalence of Extended Spectrum Beta Lactamase Producing Bacteria in Two Surgical Wards of a General Hospital

2019

Abstract Colonisation of gastrointestinal tract by extended spectrum beta lactamase (ESBL)-producing Gram-negative bacteria is a source for infections. The present work is a prospective study in Latvia aimed to determine the role of two surgical profile wards in transmission of ESBL-producing bacteria. Differences between hospital wards were not analysed due to low number of patients. We have also determined a correlation between the duration of hospitalisation and risk of ESBL colonisation. Tests for ESBL-producing bacteria were made twice for 136 patients — upon admission and upon discharge from the hospital. Of them, 21 (15.4%) patients already were ESBL-positive at the time of admission…

Heat-Treated Bifidobacterium longum CECT-7347: A Whole-Cell Postbiotic with Antioxidant, Anti-Inflammatory, and Gut-Barrier Protection Properties

2021

Non-viable preparations of probiotics, as whole-cell postbiotics, attract increasing interest because of their intrinsic technological stability, and their functional properties, such as immune system modulation, gut barrier maintenance, and protection against pathogens. However, reports on Bifidobacteria-derived postbiotics remain scarce. This study aims to demonstrate the functional properties of a heat-treated (HT), non-viable, Bifidobacterium longum strain, CECT-7347, a strain previously selected for its anti-inflammatory phenotype and ability to improve biomarkers of intestinal integrity in clinical trials. The study used the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans and HT-29 cell cultures as e…

Fungal Deoxynivalenol-Induced Enterocyte Distress Is Attenuated by Adulterated Adlay: In Vitro Evidences for Mucoactive Counteraction

2018

Adlay is a cereal crop that has long been used as traditional herbal medicine and as a highly nourishing food. However, deoxynivalenol (DON), the most prevalent trichothecene mycotoxin worldwide, frequently spoils grains, including adlay, via fungal infection. On the basis of an assumption that the actions of DON in the gut could be modified by adlay consumption, we simulated the impacts of co-exposure in enterocytes and investigated the effectiveness of treatment with adlay for reducing the risk of DON-induced inflammation and epithelia barrier injury. In particular, adlay suppressed DON-induced pro-inflammatory signals such as mitogen-activated kinase transduction and the epidermal growth…

Ketogenic diet and microbiota: Friends or enemies?

2019

Over the last years, a growing body of evidence suggests that gut microbial communities play a fundamental role in many aspects of human health and diseases. The gut microbiota is a very dynamic entity influenced by environment and nutritional behaviors. Considering the influence of such a microbial community on human health and its multiple mechanisms of action as the production of bioactive compounds, pathogens protection, energy homeostasis, nutrients metabolism and regulation of immunity, establishing the influences of different nutritional approach is of pivotal importance. The very low carbohydrate ketogenic diet is a very popular dietary approach used for different aims: from weight …

The Monoclonal Antitoxin Antibodies (Actoxumab–Bezlotoxumab) Treatment Facilitates Normalization of the Gut Microbiota of Mice with Clostridium diffi…

2016

Antibiotics have significant and long-lasting impacts on the intestinal microbiota and consequently reduce colonization resistance against Clostridium difficile infection (CDI). Standard therapy using antibiotics is associated with a high rate of disease recurrence, highlighting the need for novel treatment strategies that target toxins, the major virulence factors, rather than the organism itself. Human monoclonal antibodies MK-3415A (actoxumab–bezlotoxumab) to C. difficile toxin A and toxin B, as an emerging non-antibiotic approach, significantly reduced the recurrence of CDI in animal models and human clinical trials. Although the main mechanism of protection is through direct neutraliza…

TLR2 modulates gut colonization and dissemination of Candida albicans in a murine model

2016

Invasive candidiasis often arises from translocation of endogenous yeasts from the gastrointestinal tract to the bloodstream. Here we describe that both wild type and TLR2−/− mice strains, orally administered with Candida albicans yeasts, display similar sustained high level of gut colonization when oral antibacterial treatment is present, while removal of antibiotic treatment causes a progressive clearance of yeasts in control but not in TLR2−/− mice. Fungal invasion of internal organs, following immunosuppression of colonized mice, was increased in TLR2−/− mice. These results point out to a role of TLR2 in gut protection against colonization and endogenous invasion by C. albicans. This wo…

2019

The gut microbiota influence host vascular physiology locally in the intestine, but also evoke remote effects that impact distant organ functions. Amongst others, the microbiota affect intestinal vascular remodeling, lymphatic development, cardiac output and vascular function, myelopoiesis, prothrombotic platelet function, and immunovigilance of the host. Experimentally, host-microbiota interactions are investigated by working with animals devoid of symbiotic bacteria, i.e., by the decimation of gut commensals by antibiotic administration, or by taking advantage of germ-free mouse isolator technology. Remarkably, some of the vascular effects that were unraveled following antibiotic treatmen…