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Role of Intestinal Microbiota in Ulcerative Colitis

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Discussion and conclusion<br />

165<br />

7. Discussion and perspectives<br />

<strong>in</strong>test<strong>in</strong>al microbiota (Eckburg et al., 2005;Arumugam et al., 2011) and dysbiosis <strong>in</strong> the<br />

Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes ratio has been associated with <strong>in</strong>test<strong>in</strong>al colitis (Sokol et al., 2009). Thus,<br />

it could be speculated that a modified ratio <strong>of</strong> Firmicutes and Bacterioidetes could be beneficial<br />

with respect to mucosal <strong>in</strong>flammation. However, <strong>in</strong> addition to stimulate bifidobacteria and<br />

lactobacilli, the oligogalacturonides were unable to significantly <strong>in</strong>duce growth (Appendix 3),<br />

which meant that short cha<strong>in</strong>s <strong>of</strong> HG lack prebiotic properties.<br />

Collectively, the results from Paper 4‐6 demonstrate that novel carbohydrate preparations derived<br />

from sugar beet and potato pulp may have prebiotic properties depend<strong>in</strong>g on monosaccharide<br />

composition and molecular weight by selectively stimulat<strong>in</strong>g the growth <strong>of</strong> bifidobacteria. The fact<br />

that it was the high molecular weight carbohydrates that stimulated bifidobacteria <strong>in</strong> vitro is a<br />

desirable attribute <strong>in</strong> vivo, s<strong>in</strong>ce long‐cha<strong>in</strong> carbohydrates may be slowly fermented by beneficial<br />

bacteria <strong>in</strong> the colon, thus allow<strong>in</strong>g penetration <strong>of</strong> prebiotic effect all the way throughout the<br />

colon. However, further <strong>in</strong> vivo studies are needed to confirm prebiotic properties <strong>of</strong> these<br />

carbohydrate preparations and their persistence throughout the colon.

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