Publications by authors named "Taiyo Takagi"

The role of the gut microbiota, especially bacterial flora, in the pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is becoming clearer. Advances in gut microbiota analysis and the use of gnotobiotics models have underscored the importance of gut bacteria and their metabolites in the progression of IBD. Fecal microbiota transplantation has shown promise in clinical trials for ulcerative colitis started as Advanced Medical Care B in Japan, raising expectations for its outcomes.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

In strategies to extend a healthy lifespan, early detection and prevention of frailty are critical. The purpose of this study was to analyze the current state and clinical risk factors of frailty among community-dwelling older to conduct a cross-sectional analysis of the individuals, correlation between frailty and nutrient intake, dietary diversity, and dietary patterns, and to elucidate the correlation between frailty-related dietary factors and the gut microbiota. The study included 786 participants aged ≥65 years from the Kyotango Multipurpose Cohort Study who had available data on their gut microbiota.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • * Research with mice and cultured cells shows that Uro A increases mucin 2 expression and thickens colonic mucus without affecting tight junctions, which are crucial for maintaining barrier integrity.
  • * Uro A treatment also reduces gut permeability and inflammation, promotes beneficial bacteria, and works through specific signaling pathways (Nrf2 and AhR) to enhance mucus secretion and support intestinal health.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • * A cohort of 61 active UC patients was analyzed, focusing on various clinical factors like age, sex, disease type, and activity levels before treatment with the suppositore.
  • * It was found that lower activity scores and specific disease types, particularly in females, predicted better efficacy of the 5-ASA suppositories, which can help optimize patient compliance and treatment outcomes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Recent studies show that the gut microbiome influences health conditions through its metabolites, like short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) and bile acids (BAs).
  • A new preservation solution called "Metabolokeeper" was developed to stabilize fecal microbiota and their metabolites at room temperature, making sample handling easier.
  • Tests with 20 healthy adults demonstrated that microbiome profiles and SCFA levels remained stable for 28 days at room temperature with Metabolokeeper, while BAs stayed stable for 7 days, highlighting its potential for improving gut health research.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • The study aimed to develop a new endoscopic evaluation index using linked color imaging (LCI) to predict histological healing in patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) who are in clinical remission.
  • Researchers evaluated 92 patients with a Mayo endoscopic subscore of 1 or less during colonoscopy, counting various indicators of inflammation and healing in biopsies taken from the colon.
  • Results showed that LCI index readings correlated significantly with histological healing, suggesting that the new LCI index could be a valuable tool for assessing treatment outcomes in UC patients.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Colonic mucus layers protect intestinal tissues against intestinal bacteria. We investigated the effects of dietary fiber and its metabolites on mucus production in the colonic mucosa. Mice were fed a partially hydrolyzed guar gum (PHGG)-containing diet and a fiber-free diet (FFD).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Vaccination is an important strategy to reduce the infection rate and adverse events of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). However, the effect of COVID-19 vaccination for Japanese patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) has not been fully elucidated. In the present study, we investigated the serum titer of neutralizing antibodies after COVID-19 vaccination in patients with IBD, treated with and without immunosuppressive therapy.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Gut microbiota are involved in both host health and disease and can be stratified based on bacteriological composition. However, gut microbiota clustering data are limited for Asians. In this study, fecal microbiota of 1803 Japanese subjects, including 283 healthy individuals, were analyzed by 16S rRNA sequencing and clustered using two models.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Intestinal ischemia-reperfusion (IR) injury is a complex, multifactorial, and pathophysiological condition with high morbidity and mortality, leading to serious difficulties in treatment, especially in humans. Heme oxygenase (HO) is the rate-limiting enzyme involved in heme catabolism. HO-1 (an inducible form) confers cytoprotection by inhibiting inflammation and oxidation.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Cancer cachexia and the associated skeletal muscle wasting are considered poor prognostic factors, although effective treatment has not yet been established. Recent studies have indicated that the pathogenesis of skeletal muscle loss may involve dysbiosis of the gut microbiota and the accompanying chronic inflammation or altered metabolism. In this study, we evaluated the possible effects of modifying the gut microenvironment with partially hydrolyzed guar gum (PHGG), a soluble dietary fiber, on cancer-related muscle wasting and its mechanism using a colon-26 murine cachexia model.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The recovery from photoinhibition is much slower in photosystem (PS) I than in PSII; therefore, the susceptibility of PSI to photoinhibition is important with respect to photosynthetic production under special physiological conditions. Previous studies have shown that repetitive short-pulse (rSP) illumination selectively induces PSI photoinhibition. Depending on the growth light intensity or the variety/species of the plant, PSI photoinhibition is different, but the underlying mechanisms remain unknown.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Consumption of yacon () is associated with beneficial effects such as prevention of metabolic diseases. Yacon root is known to contain various bioactive components including indigestible carbohydrates, but the alteration of intestinal environment after treatment with yacon has not been fully investigated. This study investigated yacon-containing diet effects on the intestinal environment in mice, including microbial composition, short-chain fatty acid levels, and mucus content.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: The role of IL-12/23 in the pathogenesis of ulcerative colitis (UC) is unclear. We analyzed mucosal IL-12/23 expression and its relationship with endoscopic severity, histological activity, and UC relapse.

Methods: Rectal biopsies were collected from 70 UC patients with clinical remission.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Advances in assisted reproductive technology still leave 8-12% of individuals unable to conceive, highlighting the importance of both hormonal and immune factors in fertility.
  • The study aimed to compare gut microbiota between infertile females and fertile controls, analyzing fecal samples to identify microbial differences and the impact of prebiotic supplementation.
  • Results showed significant microbial diversity differences, and 58.3% of patients receiving combined embryo transfer and prebiotic therapy achieved pregnancy, indicating potential links between gut health and fertility outcomes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The spectrum of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) ranges from simple hepatic steatosis commonly associated with obesity, to non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, which can progress to fibrosis, cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Recent reports have indicated the crucial role of gut microbiota and their metabolites in the progression of NAFLD. In the present review, we demonstrated the influence of oral administration of (-)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) on the gut microbiota, serum bile acid profile, and gene expression in the liver in mice fed a high-fat diet (HFD).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Partially hydrolyzed guar gum (PHGG) is a water-soluble dietary fiber and is used in solid and liquid food to regulate gut function. The aim of this study was to investigate effects of PHGG on bowel movements (stool form and frequency), plasma bile acids, quality of life, and gut microbiota of healthy volunteers with a tendency toward diarrhea, i.e.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Gut microbiota have profound effects on bile acid metabolism by promoting deconjugation, dehydrogenation, and dehydroxylation of primary bile acids in the distal small intestine and colon. High-fat diet-induced dysbiosis of gut microbiota and bile acid dysregulation may be involved in the pathology of steatosis in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), the most abundant polyphenolic catechin in green tea, has been widely investigated for its inhibitory or preventive effects against fatty liver.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objectives: In this study we aimed to verify a real-time trans-epithelial electrical resistance (TEER) monitoring system in a Caco-2 monolayer and to investigate the therapeutic effect of partially hydrolyzed guar gum (PHGG), a dietary fiber, against interferon (IFN)-γ-induced intestinal barrier dysfunction using this monitoring system.

Methods: We measured TEER using a real-time monitoring system and evaluated epithelial paracellular permeability using fluorescein isothiocyanate-conjugated dextran (4 kDa; FD4) in Caco-2 monolayers treated with IFN-γ for 48 h. The expression and distribution of tight junction (TJ)-associated proteins, ZO-1 and occludin, were analyzed by Western blot and immunocytochemistry, respectively.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Partially hydrolysed guar gum (PHGG), a water-soluble dietary fibre produced by the controlled partial enzymatic hydrolysis of guar gum beans, has various physiological roles. This study aimed to elucidate the beneficial effects of PHGG on colonic mucosal damage in a murine 2,4,6-trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid (TNBS)-induced colitis model. Acute colitis was induced in male C57BL/6 mice with TNBS after 2 weeks of pre-feeding with PHGG (5 %).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background And Aims: Healing of the intestinal mucosal epithelium was found to be a critical factor in the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). In this study, we provide further evidence that partially hydrolyzed dietary fiber (PHGG) enhances colonic epithelial cell wound healing, and partially characterize the mechanism that governs this process.

Materials And Methods: Young adult mouse colonic (YAMC) epithelial cells were scraped with a 10 μl micro-pipette tip to denude a round of the monolayer and were incubated with PHGG.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Recent evidence has indicated that total fiber intake is inversely related to type 2 diabetes risk. The present study aimed to investigate the effects of chronic administration of partially hydrolyzed guar gum (PHGG), a water-soluble dietary fiber, on the occurrence of diabetes and its complications, fatty liver and nephropathy. We also identified predictive serum biomarkers of treatment response to PHGG by mass spectroscopy-based proteomic analysis using Otsuka Long-Evans Tokushima Fatty (OLETF) rats, a good model of human non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Biomedical evidence in the last 20 years has shown that the consumption of partially hydrolyzed guar gum may influence lipid and/or carbohydrate metabolism at many levels. Since intestine represents the first interface to interact with dietary partially hydrolyzed guar gum in vivo, we evaluated gene expression profiles in small intestinal mucosa of db/db mice fed with partially hydrolyzed guar gum in an effort to delineate its effect on the small intestine. DNA microarray and real-time PCR analyses were performed to evaluate the gene expression profiles in mice small intestinal mucosa.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF