human gut metagenome Raw sequence reads

Probiotic supplements are thought to contribute to maintaining health and potentially to ameliorating various disease symptoms. While probiotic supplements can be delivered in many forms; protection from gastric exposure is important for survival and viability. Previously, in vitro testing of a novel encapsulation, Pearl, was shown to increase survival of probiotics after exposure to gastric conditions. The primary goal of this study was to determine fecal recovery in volunteers ingesting the probiotic in Pearl capsules as compared to those ingesting it in a conventional hard-shelled gelatin capsule.We performed a prospective, double blinded, two-armed clinical trial, with 6 healthy subjects in each 12 day intervention arm. In fecal samples collected at baseline, during the intervention and after washout we compared colony counts between the two encapsulation methods. The identity of the colonies was confirmed by colony morphology, strain-specific PCR and 16S rRNA sequencing. We further performed a comprehensive 16S rRNA sequencing based analysis to identify differential effects on overall microbiota composition.We detected an average log increase in Bifidobacteria of 0.152 cfu/g in those participants consuming gelatin capsules and an average log increase of 0.651 cfu/g in subjects taking the Pearl based probiotic. Furthermore, during washout we observed within seven days a return to Lactobacilli baseline levels in those taking gelatin encased capsules while those taking Pearl retained an average of 3.11 cfu/g higher counts compared to baseline (p=.05).We conclude that protecting the probiotic strains by Pearl encapsulation results in higher recovery rates of Lactobacilli and Bifidobacteria in fecal samples and increases their persistence, suggesting an improved survival and viability that might increase efficacy towards achieving desired health benefits.