Synbiotics are the mixtures of probiotics and prebiotics. They selectively stimulate the growth and/or by activating the metabolism of one or a limited number of health-promoting bacteria. Creative Biolabs offers high-quality services of synbiotic modification of gut microbiota to facilitate your microbe research.

Gut Microbiota

The gut microbiota consists of plenty of microbes, including bacteria, viruses, and yeast, which have symbiotic and mutualistic relationships with the host. These microbes are responsible for the conversion of food components, leading to the production of several bioactive molecules such as vitamins, short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) and diverse metabolites known to exert functional effects on host health. The microbes also participate in important physiologic processes such as the development of the immune system, intestinal homeostasis, behavior, and host metabolism. The imbalances of gut microbiota are associated with numerous diseases, including inflammatory bowel disease, colon cancer, Parkinson's disease and cardiometabolic diseases.

Synbiotic

The synbiotic concept was proposed in two configurations when first introduced:

• Complementary synbiotics: Prebiotic and probiotic components are chosen independently, with each responsible for a particular effect or health benefit.
• Synergistic synbiotics: Synbiotic combination is specifically designed with a prebiotic substrate synergistically supporting the competitiveness, survival, or metabolic activity of a cognate probiotic strain in the gastrointestinal ecosystem. These kinds of synbiotics have the potential advantage of functioning even in prebiotic nonresponders.

Furthermore, the incorporation of a selective fermentable substrate represents a resource opportunity that increases the competitive fitness of the partner organism and could enhance its persistence.

Nowadays, synbiotics are described as a combination of growth-promoting prebiotic ingredients and probiotic bacteria that achieve the synergism effect. They have been used in several diseases including colorectal cancer (CRC).

Synbiotic Modification of Gut Microbiota

Synbiotics have important effects in modifying the intestinal microbiota:

• Synbiotics may prove useful in altering the intestinal microbiota by the effects of the prebiotic on the beneficial bacteria of the intestine, as well as by the delivery of a desired probiotic.
• Synbiotics can enhance the persistence and metabolic activity of specific beneficial probiotic strains. Most commonly used synbiotic combinations:lactobacilli and bifidobacteria, as the probiotic component; oligosaccharides, inulin or fibers, as the prebiotic component.
• Synbiotics have the ability to increase the expression of MUC2, ZO-1, occludin, and TRL2.
• Many synbiotics, such as oligofructose-maltodextrin-enriched Lactobacillus acidophilus, participate in some beneficial processes such as decreased tumor growth, increase in mucin secretion, preservation of tight junctions, inhibition of inflammation, etc.
• Synbiotics can decrease the expression levels of TRL4, caspase 3, COX-2, and β-catenin, which are proteins known to enhance the proinflammatory response, apoptosis, and tumor progression.

Scientists at Creative Biolabs have developed several novel approaches to achieve synergistic synbiotics, based on ecological performance or fitness. In animal models, the method mainly relies on the selection and isolation of strains whose abundance is significantly enriched. When the recombined synbiotic is introduced into a new host, these strains would be expected to colonize at greater levels than in the absence of the prebiotic.

If you are interested in our synbiotic modification of gut microbiota, please feel free to contact us for any discussion.

Reference

1. Floch, M. H.; et al. Modification of the gut microbiota to promote human health. Clinical Insights: Probiotics, Prebiotics and Gut Health. 2014, 15-34.

For Research Use Only | Not For Clinical Use