Symbiotic maple saps minimize disruption of the mice intestinal microbiota after oral antibiotic administration

Abstract

This study was undertaken to evaluate the in vivo impact of new symbiotic products based on liquid maple sap or its concentrate. Sap and concentrate, with or without inulin (2%), were inoculated with Bifidobacterium lactis Bb12 and Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG valio at initial counts of 2−4 × 10⁸ cfu mL^–1. The experiments started with intra-gastric administration of antibiotic (kanamycin 40 mg in 0.1 cc) (to induce microbiota disturbance and/or diarrhea) to 3-to-5-week-old C57BL/6 female mice followed by a combination of prebiotic and probiotics included in the maple sap or its concentrate for a week. The combination inulin and probiotics in maple sap and concentrate appeared to minimize the antibiotic-induced breakdown of mice microbiota with a marked effect on bifidobacterium and bacteroides levels, thus permitting a more rapid re-establishment of the baseline microbiota levels. Results suggest that maple sap and its concentrate represent good candidates for the production of non-dairy functional foods.

• Diarrhea
• maple saps
• mice microbiota
• prebiotic
• probiotics
• symbiotic drink

Acknowledgements

The Fédération des producteurs acéricoles du Québec participated in the collection and donation of maple syrup samples from Quebec, Canada.

Declaration of interest

This project was supported by the Conseil pour le développement de l’agriculture du Québec (CDAQ), with funding provided by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s Advancing Canadian Agriculture and Agri-Food (ACAAF) program. The authors declare that financial support from Fédération des producteurs acéricoles du Québec (FPAQ) did not inappropriately influence their work. FPAQ had no role in the design, analysis and writing of this article.