ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Nutr.
Sec. Nutrition and Microbes
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fnut.2025.1644649
This article is part of the Research TopicDietary Modulation of Gut Microbiota-X axisView all 14 articles
Bifidobacterium longum subsp. infantis CCFM1426 enhances the anticolitic effect of vitamin A via retinoic acid restoration and gut microbiota modulation in ulcerative colitis mice
Provisionally accepted
- 1Sinopharm Xingsha Pharmaceutical Xiamen Co Ltd, Xiamen, China
- 2Jiangnan University, Wuxi, China
- 3Department of Nephrology, Wuxi People's Hospital, Wuxi, China
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Background: Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a chronic inflammatory bowel disease with increasing global prevalence, making it a significant health concern. Although vitamin A (VA) plays a beneficial role in UC management, its therapeutic efficacy is limited by impaired absorption and disrupted retinoic acid (RA) metabolism. Gut microbiota are known to influence VA metabolic pathways, offering potential targets to enhance VA bioavailability and efficacy.Methods: A dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced mouse model of colitis was established to evaluate the therapeutic effects of co-administering Bifidobacterium longum subsp. infantis CCFM1426 with vitamin A. Body weight, disease activity index (DAI) and colon length were monitored in mice with DSS-induced colitis. Serum levels of intestinal injury markers, inflammatory cytokines, antioxidant enzymes and colonic RA levels were measured using ELISA kits.Results: It was indicated that the VA and CCFM1426 combination significantly improved colon length and DAI, enhanced serum levels of intestinal injury markers (lipopolysaccharide-binding protein, intestinal fatty acid-binding protein, diamine oxidase) and cytokines (IL-6, TNF-α, IL-10), and restored antioxidant capacity. The combination demonstrated superior efficacy in colonic RA levels and contributed to gut microbiota diversity restoration. Metabolomics analysis showed that colitis mice treated with the combination had higher levels of eicosapentaenoic acid, adenosine and anandamide.These findings provide novel evidence that co-administration of CCFM1426 and VA synergistically alleviates colitis by enhancing RA bioavailability through microbiota-dependent pathways.
Keywords: ulcerative colitis, Vitamin A, Retinoic acid, Bifidobacterium longum subsp. infantis, Gut Microbiota
Received: 10 Jun 2025; Accepted: 03 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Yu, Huang, Wang, Li, Lu, Zhang and Wang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Hongchao Wang, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, China
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