Mono-colonization with Lactobacillus acidophilus NCFM affects the intestinal metabolome as compared to germ-free mice

摘要

Every single species of the gut microbiota produce low-molecular-weight compounds that are absorbed constantly from the intestinal lumen and carried to systemic circulation where they play a direct role in health and disease. However, very few studies address the host metabolome as a function of colonizing bacteria. In this study the effect of the Lactobacillus acidophilus NCFM strain was investigated by comparing the metabolome of mono-colonized and germ-free mice in several compartments. By liquid-chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry, we were able to show that the metabolome differed between the mono-colonized and germ-free mice, not only in ileum, caecum and colon, but also in plasma and liver. These observations suggest that L. acidophilus NCFM highly influence the metabolism in multiple compartments, underlying that the gut microbiota metabolism affects the host systemic metabolism.