| Summary: | Recent research advances examining the gut microbiome and its association with human health have indicated that microbiota-targeted intervention is a promising means for health modulation. In this study, elderly people in long-term care (aged 83.2 ± 5.3 year) with malnutrition (MNA-SF score ≤ 7) were recruited in a community hospital for a 12-week randomized, single-blind clinical trial with <i>Clostridium butyricum</i>. Compared with the basal fluctuations of the control group, an altered gut microbiome was observed in the intervention group, with increased (<i>p</i> < 0.05) <i>Coprobacillus</i> species, <i>Carnobacterium divergens</i>, and <i>Corynebacterium_massiliense</i>, and the promoted growth of the beneficial organisms <i>Akketmanse muciniphila</i> and <i>Alistipes putredinis</i>. A concentrated profile of 14 increased Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) orthologs (KOs) that were enriched in cofactor/vitamin production and carbohydrate metabolism pathways were discovered; the genes were found to be correlated (<i>p</i> < 0.05) with an elevated abundance of plasma metabolites and short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), unsaturated medium- to long-chain fatty acids (MFA, LFA), carnitines, and amino acids, thus suggesting a coordinated ameliorated metabolism. Proinflammatory factor interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) levels decreased (<i>p</i> < 0.05) throughout the intervention, while the gut barrier tight junction protein, occludin, rose in abundance (<i>p</i> = 0.059), and the sensitive nutrition biomarker prealbumin improved, in contrast to the opposite changes in control. Based on our results obtained during a relatively short intervention time, <i>C. butyricum</i> might have great potential for improving nutrition and immunity in elderly people in long-term care with malnutrition through the alteration of gut microbiota, increasing the abundance of beneficial bacteria and activating the metabolism in SCFA and cofactor/vitamin production, bile acid metabolism, along with efficient energy generation.
|
|---|