Summary: This was a pilot study aiming to evaluate the effects of probiotics as adjunctive treatment for ulcerative colitis (UC). Twenty‐five active patients with UC were assigned to the probiotic ( n = 12) and placebo ( n = 13) groups. The probiotic group received mesalazine (60 mg kg ⁻¹ day ⁻¹ ) and oral probiotics (containing Lactobacillus casei Zhang, Lactobacillus plantarum P‐8 and Bifidobacterium animalis subsp . lactis V9) twice daily for 12 weeks, while the placebo group received the same amounts of mesalazine and placebo. The clinical outcomes were assessed. The gut mucosal microbiota was profiled by PacBio single‐molecule, real‐time (SMRT) sequencing of the full‐length 16S rRNA of biopsy samples obtained by colonoscopy. A significantly greater magnitude of reduction was observed in the UC disease activity index (UCDAI) in the probiotic group compared with the placebo group ( P = 0.043), accompanying by a higher remission rate (91.67% for probiotic‐receivers versus 69.23% for placebo‐receivers, P = 0.034). The probiotics could protect from diminishing of the microbiota diversity and richness. Moreover, the gut mucosal microbiota of the probiotic‐receivers had significantly more beneficial bacteria like Eubacterium ramulus ( P < 0.05), Pediococcus pentosaceus ( P < 0.05), Bacteroides fragilis ( P = 0.02) and Weissella cibaria ( P = 0.04). Additionally, the relative abundances of the beneficial bacteria correlated significantly but negatively with the UCDAI score, suggesting that the probiotics might alleviate UC symptoms by modulating the gut mucosal microbiota. Our research has provided new insights into the mechanism of symptom alleviation in UC by applying probiotic‐based adjunctive treatment.

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effects of probiotics on the composition and function of the gut microbiota in dogs with diarrhoea. Forty dogs with diarrhoea were randomly allocated to the treatment group or control group. Probiotics, containing Lactobacillus casei Zhang, Lactobacillus plantarum P-8, and Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis V9, were only fed to 20 treated dogs for 60 days. The faecal samples of all dogs at day 0 and day 60 were analyzed using a metagenomic approach. The results showed a significantly higher microbial diversity and an obvious change in the structure of the gut microbiota in the treatment group. There was also an increase in the abundance of some beneficial bacteria in differently aged dogs, such as Lactobacillus johnsonii (P < 0.05), Lactobacillus reuteri (P < 0.01), Lactobacillus acidophilus (P < 0.05) and Butyricicoccus pullicaecorum (P < 0.05), and a reduction in the abundance of many opportunistic pathogenic bacteria such as Clostridium perfringens (P < 0.05) and Stenotrophomonas maltophilia (P < 0.05) with the supplementation of probiotics. Intriguingly, the correlated networks among some pathogenic bacteria decreased following the administration of probiotics. Additionally, metagenomic analysis revealed the upregulation of pathways involved in the metabolism of amino acids and biosynthesis of secondary metabolites, accompanied by the downregulation of pathways associated with virulence of pathogenic bacteria and cell signaling, suggesting that probiotics could improve the health of dogs with diarrhoea through regulation of the gut microbiota. Our research provides new information relevant to the treatment of diarrhoea in animals and humans.

Chronic inflammation is a risk factor for colorectal cancer, and inflammatory cytokines secreted from inflammatory cells and active oxygen facilitate tumorigenesis. Intestinal bacteria are thought to regulate tumorigenesis. The longer the breastfeeding period, the lower is the risk of inflammatory bowel disease. Here, we investigated preventive effects of the probiotic Lactobacillus rhamnosus M9 (Probio-M9) on colitis-associated tumorigenesis. An inflammatory colorectal tumor model was established using a 6-week-old male C57BL/6NCrSlc mouse, which was intraperitoneally administered with azoxymethane (AOM: 12 mg/kg body weight). On weeks 2 and 4, 2% dextran sulfate sodium (DSS) was administered to mice for 7 days through drinking water. On weeks 8 and 10, Probio-M9 (2 × 10⁹/day) was orally administered for 7 days. Animals were sacrificed at 20 weeks after AOM administration and immunohistochemical staining and Western blotting was performed. The α-diversity of microflora (Shannon index), principal coordinate analysis, and distribution of intestinal bacterium genera and metabolic pathways were compared. The AOM/DSS group showed weight loss, diarrhea, intestinal shortening, increased number of colon tumors, proliferating tumorigenesis, increased inflammation score, fibrosis, increased CD68+, or CD163+ macrophage cells in the subserosal layer of non-tumor areas. Inflammation and tumorigenesis ameliorated after Probio-M9 treatment. Fecal microbial functions were altered by AOM/DSS treatment. Probio-M9 significantly upregulated the fecal microbial diversity and reversed fecal microbial functions. Thus, Probio-M9 could suppress tumor formation in the large intestine by regulating the intestinal environment and ameliorating inflammation, suggesting its therapeutic potential for treatment of inflammation and colitis-associated tumorigenesis.

Streptococcus thermophilus is a major dairy starter used for manufacturing of dairy products. In the present study, we developed a multilocus sequence typing (MLST) scheme for this important food bacterium. Sequences of 10 housekeeping genes (carB, clpX, dnaA, murC, murE, pepN, pepX, pyrG, recA, and rpoB) were obtained for 239 S. thermophilus strains, which were isolated from home-made fermented dairy foods in 18 different regions of Mongolia and China. All 10 genes of S. thermophilus were sequenced, aligned, and defined sequence types (STs) using the BioNumerics Software. The nucleotide diversity was calculated by START v2.0. The population structure, phylogenetic relationships and the role of recombination were inferred using ClonalFrame v1.2, SplitsTree 4.0 and Structure v2.3. The 239 S. thermophilus isolates and 18 reference strains could be assigned into 119 different STs, which could be further separated into 16 clonal complexes (CCs) and 38 singletons. Among the 10 loci, a total of 132 polymorphic sites were detected. The standardized index of association (I A S = 0.0916), split-decomposition and ρ/θ (relative frequency of occurrence of recombination and mutation) and r/m value (relative impact of recombination and mutation in the diversification) confirms that recombination may have occurred, but it occurred at a low frequency in these 10 loci. Phylogenetic trees indicated that there were five lineages in the S. thermophilus isolates used in our study. MSTree and ClonalFrame tree analyses suggest that the evolution of S. thermophilus isolates have little relationship with geographic locality, but revealed no association with the types of fermented dairy product. Phylogenetic analysis of 36 whole genome strains (18 S. thermophilus, 2 S. vestibularis and 16 S. salivarius strains) indicated that our MLST scheme could clearly separate three closely related species within the salivarius group and is suitable for analyzing the population structure of the other two species in the salivarius group. Our newly developed MLST scheme improved the understanding on the genetic diversity and population structure of the S. thermophilus, as well as provided useful information for further studies on the genotyping and evolutionary research for S. thermophilus strains with global diversity.

This study aimed to develop an effective technique for extracting total anthocyanins from purple sweet potato (Mianzishu 9) (PSP9) by ultrasound-assisted compound enzymatic extraction (UAEE). Single-factor experiments, Plackett-Burman experimental design, and response surface methodology were utilized for optimizing extraction conditions, and the antioxidant activities were evaluated. Anthocyanins were also measured using an ultra-performance liquid chromatograph linked to a mass spectrometer (UPLC-MS). The maximum yield of total anthocyanins was 2.27 mg/g under the following conditions: the ethanol concentration was 78%, the material-to-liquid ratio was 1:15 g/mL, the enzyme ratio (cellulase: pectinase: papain) was 2:2:1 and its hydrolysis was at 41 °C, pH = 4.5, 1.5 h, the ultrasonication was at 48 °C and conducted twice for 20 min each time. In addition to higher yield, anthocyanins extracted from purple sweet potato by UAEE showed great ability to scavenge DPPH (IC₅₀ of 0.089 μg/mL) and hydroxyl radicals (IC₅₀ of 100.229 μg/mL). Five anthocyanins were found in the purple sweet potato extract from UAEE. Taken together, the ultrasound-assisted compound enzymatic method can rapidly and effectively extract anthocyanins with greater antioxidant capacity from purple sweet potato.