The Pivotal Role of Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor-Regulated Tight Junction Proteins and Innate Immunity on the Synergistic Effects of Postbiotic Butyrate and Active Vitamin D3 to Defense against Microbial Invasion in Salmonella Colitis

• Published in: Nutrients Vol. 15; no. 2; p. 305
• Main Authors: Huang, Fu-Chen, Huang, Shun-Chen
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 07.01.2023; MDPI
• Subjects: Animals; Antibodies; antimicrobial peptides; aryl hydrocarbon receptors; Bacterial infections; butyrates; Butyrates - pharmacology; cholecalciferol; Cholecalciferol - pharmacology; colitis; Colitis - metabolism; Cytokines; Diarrhea; Drug resistance; Experiments; Hydrocarbons; Immunity, Innate; Infections; inflammation; Inflammatory bowel disease; innate immunity; intestines; intraperitoneal injection; Laboratory animals; Liver; Medical research; Metabolism; Metabolites; Mice; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Microbiota; Mortality; Nutrition; Pathogens; Peptides; Protein expression; Proteins; Receptors, Aryl Hydrocarbon - metabolism; Salmonella; Salmonella Infections - drug therapy; salmonellosis; Sepsis; Spleen; Tight Junction Proteins; tight junctions; Tight Junctions - metabolism; zonulin; Fiji; United States > US; Switzerland; Germany; active vitamin D3; Salmonella colitis; postbiotics; innate immunity; acyl hydrocarbon receptor; tight junction
• ISSN: 2072-6643; 2072-6643
• DOI: 10.3390/nu15020305

Our recent report illustrated the unitedly advantageous effects of postbiotic butyrate on active vitamin D3 (VD3)-orchestrated innate immunity in Salmonella colitis. There is growing awareness that aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) can regulate intestinal immunity and barrier function, through modulating cecal inflammation and junction proteins expression. Hence, we researched the participation of AhR-regulated tight junction functions on the united effects of butyrate and VD3 on intestinal defense to Salmonella infection. Salmonella colitis model were elicited by oral gavage with 1 × 108 CFU of a S. typhimurium wild-type strain SL1344 in C57BL/6 mice. Before and after the colitis generation, mice were fed with butyrate and/or VD3 by oral gavage in the absence or presence of intraperitoneal injection of AhR inhibitor for 4 and 7 days, respectively. We observed that butyrate and VD3 could concert together to reduce the invasion of Salmonella in colitis mice by enhancing cecal cytokines and antimicrobial peptides expression and reducing zonulin and claudin-2 protein expressions in mucosal stain, compared to single treatment, which were counteracted by AhR inhibitor. It implies that AhR is involved in the united effects of butyrate and VD3 on the intestinal defense to Salmonella infection in colitis mice. This study discloses the promising alternative therapy of combining postbiotic and VD3 for invasive Salmonellosis and the pivotal role of AhR pathway.