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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Albany, California » Western Regional Research Center » Foodborne Toxin Detection and Prevention Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #365475
Research Project: Advance the Development of Technologies for Detecting and Determining the Stability and Bioavailability of Toxins that Impact Food Safety and Food Defense

Location: Foodborne Toxin Detection and Prevention Research

Title: Prebiotics, probiotics, and bacterial infections

Author
item Tam, Christina
item LAND, KIRKWOOD - University Of The Pacific
item Cheng, Luisa

Submitted to: Intech
Publication Type: Book / Chapter
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/7/2019
Publication Date: 10/3/2019
Citation: Tam, C.C., Land, K.M., Cheng, L.W. 2019. Prebiotics, probiotics, and bacterial infections. In: Franco-Robles, E. and Ramírez-Emiliano, J., editors. Prebiotics and Probiotics, Potential Benefits in Nutrition and Health. IntechOpen. https://doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.89052.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.89052

Interpretive Summary: Bacterial pathogens have developed many methods to survive in host cells. They allow for the bacteria to bind to, invade, reproduce, and escape from the host immune response. In response, the host cells have developed its own defenses to prevent this from happening. One of the most important defense mechanisms to prevent bad bacteria from gaining an upper hand in the gut is the actions due to the good bacteria already present in one’s gut. Gastrointestinal diseases such as irritable bowel syndrome, Crohn’s disease, and infectious diarrhea can be linked to an imbalance in the normal gut bacteria. A restoration of the good bacteria in the gut by giving back good bacteria i.e. with probiotics and/or prebiotics may help as treatment and/or prevention therapy. In this chapter, we will be giving evidence of gut harmony imbalance as a fundamental issue with the development of gut diseases and the treatment therapies used to treat them.

Technical Abstract: Bacterial pathogens have developed exquisite virulence mechanisms to survive in the host cells. These virulence mechanisms help them to bind, internalize, replicate, and evade the host immune response. The mammalian host itself has developed its own repertoire of weapons to prevent this from happening. One important component of host response in preventing infections in the gut lumen is the diverse commensal microbiota present. Dysbiosis of the gut microbiota has been implicated in the development of many gastrointestinal diseases. A potential therapeutic pathway to solve these diseases would be to undo the dysbiotic state via giving probiotics and/or prebiotics to help stimulate growth of the beneficial commensal bacteria. Here, we will present evidence of dysbiosis in the development of disease as well as potential therapies to restore gut harmony.