Dataset Information

Lipids alter microbial transport through intestinal mucus.

ABSTRACT: Mucus constitutes a protective layer which coats the gastrointestinal tract, controlling interactions of both commensal and pathogenic microbes with underlying tissues. Changes to the mucus barrier, for example due to altered mucin expression or external stimuli, may impact interactions with microbes and thus potentially contribute to altered gut homeostasis, onset of inflammation, or pathogen invasion. Food-associated stimuli, including lipids, have been shown to change mucus barrier properties and reduce transport of model drug carriers through mucus. Here, we explore the impact of lipids, specifically triglycerides in a model intestinal medium mimicking a fed state, on Escherichia coli (E. coli) transport through mucus by directly imaging swimming patterns and analyzing associated changes in mucus structure. Lipids in model fed state intestinal contents reduced E. coli speed and track linearity within mucus. These changes may be due in part to changes in molecular interactions within the mucus network as well as crowding of the mucus network by lipid emulsion droplets, which visibly stay intact in the mucus gel. In addition, observed physical interactions between bacteria and lipid structures may impact microbial speed and trajectories. As lipids are normal food components and thus represent safe, mild stimuli, these results support exploration of lipid-based strategies to alter the mucus barrier to control interactions with microbes and potentially prevent microbial invasion of underlying epithelium.

SUBMITTER: Carlson TL

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6303031 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Lipids alter microbial transport through intestinal mucus.

Carlson Taylor L TL Yildiz Hasan H Dar Zaineb Z Lock Jaclyn Y JY Carrier Rebecca L RL

PloS one 20181221 12

Mucus constitutes a protective layer which coats the gastrointestinal tract, controlling interactions of both commensal and pathogenic microbes with underlying tissues. Changes to the mucus barrier, for example due to altered mucin expression or external stimuli, may impact interactions with microbes and thus potentially contribute to altered gut homeostasis, onset of inflammation, or pathogen invasion. Food-associated stimuli, including lipids, have been shown to change mucus barrier properties ...[more]

PMID: 30576356

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Project description:The gastrointestinal mucus layer represents the last barrier between ingested food or orally administered pharmaceuticals and the mucosal epithelium. This complex gel structure plays an important role in the process of small intestinal absorption. It provides protection against hazardous particles such as bacteria but allows the passage of nutrients and drug molecules towards the intestinal epithelium. In scientific research, mucus from animal sources is usually used to simulate difficult-to-obtain human small intestinal mucus for investigating the intramucus transport of drug delivery systems or food nanoparticles. However, there is a lack of evidence the human mucus can be reliably substituted by animal counterparts for human-relevant transport models. In this report, a procedure for collecting human mucus has been described. More importantly, the permeability characteristics of human and porcine small intestinal mucus secretions to sub-micron sized particles have been compared under simulated intestinal conditions. Negatively charged, 500 nm latex beads were used in multiple-particle tracking experiments to examine the heterogeneity and penetrability of mucus from different sources. Diffusion of the probe particles in adult human ileal mucus and adult pig jejunal and ileal mucus revealed no significant differences in microstructural organisation or microviscosity between the three mucus types (P > 0.05). In contrast to this interspecies similarity, the intraspecies comparison of particle diffusivity in the mucus obtained from adult pigs vs. 2-week old piglets showed better penetrability of the piglet mucus. The mean Stokes-Einstein viscosity of the piglet jejunal mucus was approx. two times lower than the viscosity of the pig jejunal mucus (P < 0.05). All mucus structures were also visualised by scanning electron microscopy. This work validates the use of porcine small intestinal mucus collected from fully-grown pigs for studying colloidal transport of sub-micron sized particles in mucus under conditions mimicking the adult human small intestinal environment.

Dataset Information

Lipids alter microbial transport through intestinal mucus.

Publications

Lipids alter microbial transport through intestinal mucus.

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