Colonic Transit Time Is a Driven Force of the Gut Microbiota Composition and Metabolism: In Vitro Evidence
Open accessAbstract
BACKGROUND/AIMS: Human gut microbiota harbors numerous metabolic properties essential for the host's health. Increased intestinal transit time affects a part of the population and is notably observed with human aging, which also corresponds to modifications of the gut microbiota. Thus we tested the metabolic and compositional changes of a human gut microbiota induced by an increased transit time simulated in vitro. METHODS: The in vitro system, Environmental Control System for Intestinal Microbiota, was used to simulate the environmental conditions of 3 different anatomical parts of the human colon in a continuous process. The retention times of the chemostat conditions were established to correspond to a typical transit time of 48 hours next increased to 96 hours. The bacterial communities, short chain fatty acids and metabolite fingerprints were determined. RESULTS: Increase of transit time resulted in a decrease of biomass and of diversity in the more distal compartments. Short chain fatty acid analyses and metabolite fingerprinting revealed increased activity corresponding to carbohydrate fermentation in the proximal compartments while protein fermentations were increased in the lower parts. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides the evidence that the increase of transit time, independently of other factors, affects the composition and metabolism of the gut microbiota. The transit time is one of the factors that explain some of the modifications seen in the gut microbiota of the elderly, as well as patients with slow transit time.
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Changes in GI transit time have been reported to affect the pH within the colonic lumen, which could lead to alterations in the composition of the gut microbiota.
“Changes in GI transit time have been reported to affect the pH within the colonic lumen which could lead to alterations in the composition of the gut microbiota.”
From The athletic gut microbiota (2020) · cites this paper as [116]
Longer colonic transit time is associated with decreased gut microbiota diversity, paralleled by an increase in pH during transit from the proximal to the distal colon.
“longer colonic transit time is associated with decreased gut microbiota diversity, which is paralleled by an increase in pH during transit from the proximal to the distal colon [116, 117].”
From The athletic gut microbiota (2020) · cites this paper as [116]
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“For instance, longer colonic transit time is associated with decreased gut microbiota diversity, which is paralleled by an increase in pH during transit from the proximal to the distal colon [116, 117].”
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- Authors
- Tottey, W., Feria-Gervasio, D., Gaci, N., Laillet, B., Pujos, E., Martin, J.-F., Sebedio, J.-L., Sion, B., Jarrige, J.-F., Alric, M., & Brugère, J.-F.
- Affiliations
- Université Clermont Auvergne (FR)
- Unité de Nutrition Humaine (FR)
- INRA, UMR 1019, Plateforme d’Exploration du Métabolisme, Nutrition Humaine, Saint-Genès Champanelle, France
- EA 4678 CIDAM, Clermont Université, Université d’Auvergne, CRNH Auvergne, Clermont-Ferrand, France
- Corresponding author
- Brugère, Jean-François
- Venue
- Journal of Neurogastroenterology and Motility
- Published
- 2017-01-30
- Volume
- 23
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 124-134
- ISSN
- 2093-0879 (ISSN-L)
- 2093-0887
- PMC
- PMC5216643
- OpenAlex
- W2517988427
- Cited by
- 125
- References
- 51
- Citations by year
- 2026: 9 · 2025: 10 · 2024: 16 · 2023: 15 · 2022: 20 · 2021: 16 · 2020: 11 · 2019: 10 · 2018: 11 · 2017: 7
- FWCI
- 4.85
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- diamond
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by-nc
- Locations
- Journal of Neurogastroenterology and Motility (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- HAL (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- HAL (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Gut microbiota and health
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Gastroenterology › Gastrointestinal motility and disorders
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Food Science › Probiotics and Fermented Foods
- Keywords
- colonic transit time, gut microbiota composition, gut microbiota metabolism, short-chain fatty acids, metabolic fingerprinting, carbohydrate fermentation, protein fermentation, aging, slow transit constipation, in vitro gut model, microbial diversity
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