Synbiotics containing nanoprebiotics: a novel therapeutic strategy to restore gut dysbiosis

Abstract Background: In our previous study, it was demonstrated that nanoprebiotics, phthalyl pullulan nanoparticles (PPNs), a new formulation enhanced the antimicrobial activity of probiotics Lactobacillus plantarum (LP) in vitro by intracellular stimulation more than backbone prebiotics generally used by far. In this study, we aimed to investigate whether this combination may exert a distinguished effect as synbiotics in vivo. To accomplish this goal, the synbiotics combination of LP, pullulan, and PPNs were treated to a dysbiosis-induced mouse model and assessed their restoring effect using pathogen Escherichia coli K99 (EC) challenge. Results: The experiment group fed with synbiotics containing PPNs more suppressed the infection of EC in mice and reinforced the gut barrier by proving the decreased serum endotoxin level. Also, the synbiotics containing PPNs increased microbial diversity as a representative parameter of healthy status compared with other groups, including a normal control group. Furthermore, distinct from treated probiotics alone, the synbiotics showed additive effects to enrich several well-known beneficial bacteria such as Lactobacillus, Bifidobacterium, and several butyrate-producing bacteria including Faecalibacterium. Conclusion: Our results indicated that synbiotics containing PPNs are very effective at restoring gut dysbiosis and suppressing pathogenic infection with an increase in microbial diversity, suggesting that the synbiotics with nanoprebiotics have the potential to be a novel strategy for curing gut dysbiosis and infectious diseases.