Effect of Clostridium butyricum on the formation of primary choledocholithiasis based on intestinal microbiome and metabolome analysis

Abstract

Aims: To investigate the function and probable mechanism of Clostridium butyricum in the development of choledocholithiasis.

Methods and results: The lithogenic diet group and the lithogenic diet + C. butyricum group were used to develop the choledocholithiasis model. During the experiment, C. butyricum suspension was administered to the rats in the lithogenic diet + C. butyricum group. The findings demonstrated that the C. butyricum intervention decreased the Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes ratio in the colon of experimental animals given a lithogenic diet. The relative levels of Desulfovibrio (0.93%) and Streptococcus (0.38%) fell, whereas Lactobacillus (22.36%), Prevotella (14.09%), and bacteria that produce short-chain fatty acids increased. Finally, 68 distinct metabolic products were found based on nontargeted metabonomics, and 42 metabolic pathways associated to the various metabolites were enriched.

Conclusions: We found that C. butyricum decreased the development of choledocholithiasis. It keeps the equilibrium of the rat's gut microbiome intact and lowers the danger of bacterial infections of the gastrointestinal and biliary systems. It is hypothesized that by controlling lipid metabolism, it may also have an impact on the development of cholelithiasis.

Keywords: Clostridium butyricum; Gallstone; intestinal flora; metabolite.