Oral Administration of Clostridium butyricum Alleviates High-Fat Diet-Induced Obesity in Mice by Modulating Gut Akkermansia muciniphila Abundance via Direct Growth Promotion.
Level 5 - mechanism / opinion, no new human data
Preclinical animal model and in vitro mechanistic study
PubMed 41365537 · doi:10.4014/jmb.2509.09005
What was done
High-fat diet (HFD)-fed C57BL/6 mice received daily oral administration of Clostridium butyricum (CLB; 1 × 10¹⁰ CFU/kg/day) for 8 weeks. Researchers evaluated body weight, fat mass, fecal butyrate concentrations, and gut microbiota composition via 16S rRNA gene sequencing. In vitro assays were also conducted to test the effects of butyrate, CLB lysate, and CLB culture supernatant on the growth of Akkermansia muciniphila (AKK).
What was found
CLB supplementation reduced body weight gain by 13.20% and decreased fat mass (21.10 ± 2.24% vs. HFD: 23.39 ± 2.34%, P < 0.05). It partially restored fecal butyrate concentrations (11.73 ± 4.99 vs. HFD: 7.27 ± 3.40 μg/g, P < 0.05) and selectively increased the relative abundance of Akkermansia. In vitro, butyrate, CLB lysate, and culture supernatant significantly promoted AKK growth.
Why it matters
These findings identify a direct cross-feeding mechanism through which Clostridium butyricum and its metabolic products promote Akkermansia muciniphila growth, providing preclinical rationale for probiotic approaches targeting metabolic health.
Limits
The study was conducted entirely in mice and in vitro cultures; human translatability is unproven. The abstract does not report the total sample size (n) of the mice studied or food intake measurements across groups.
Cited by
- context Akkermansia muciniphila requires butyrate to function, which is why probiotic formulations pair it with Clostridium butyricum.