Table 1.
Modulation of gut microbiota by β-glucans.
| Source of β-glucan Study model | Molecular weight or/and composition of material that was used | Modulation of Gut microbiota | References |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cereal-β-glucan | |||
| Tibetan hulless barley-in vitro fermentation of human fecal | 3.45 × 104 Da | ↑ Pantoea, Megamonas, Bifidiobacteria, Prevotella↑ Concentrations of SCFA (acetate, propionate, butyrate) | Nie et al. (70) |
| Barley in vivo - human patient with high risk for metabolic syndrome development | Experimental β- glucans bread was prepared with wheat flour and β- glucans-enriched barley flour (Valechol) | ↑ Bifidobacterium spp. and Akkermansia municiphila | Velikonja et al. (71) |
| Barley-in vivo in rat | LMW- β- glucans were partially prepared by cellulase MW 12 kDa | ↑ Bifidobacterium and Bacteroides ↑ Total SCFAs, particularly ↑ Acetate and n-butyrate. | Aoe et al. (72) |
| Barley-in vivo hypercholesterolemic rat | LMW barley | ↑ Bifidobacterium | Mikkelsen et al. (73) |
| Barley-in vivo study on human | Granoro’s Cuore Mio pasta was made by using a mixture of durum wheat flour (75%) and whole-grain barley flour (25%) | ↑ Roseburia hominis, Ruminococcus ssp. Clostridiaceae spp.↓ Fusobacteria and Firmicutes | De Angelis et al. (74) |
| Barley-in vivo randomized individual study | HMW barley (1,349 kDa) | ↑ Bacteroidetes and ↓ Firmicutes | Wang et al. (75) |
| Oat-in vitro fermentation of colonic microbiota | PepsiCo, Inc. (Barrington). Used different oat ingredients | ↑ Bifidobacterium, Roseburia, Lactobacillus spp. | Van den Abbeele et al. (76) |
| Mushroom- β- glucan | |||
| Pleurotus eryngii in vitro – fermentation of human fecal sample | Mushroom cultivation was conducted in substrates consisting of wheat straw or beech sawdust, and in their mixtures in various ratios (w/w) with grape marc or olive prunings and of olive leaves with two-phase olive-mill waste. Therefore, used mushroom may have contamination of used substrates. | ↑ Bifidobacterium spp. and F. prausnitzii populations.↑ Acetate, propionate and butyrate concentration. | Boulaka et al. (77) |
| Fungal β-glucan | |||
| Grifolan (Grifola frondosa)-in vitro- colorectal cell lines | ↑ Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium. ↑ Lactic, succinic, and valeric acid concentrations. | De Giani et al. (78) | |
| Polysaccharide form Ganoderma lucidum-in vivo obesity mice model | MW: 133.1 KDa | ↑ Ratio Bacteroides to Firmicutes, Bacteroides ovatus and B. uniformis. ↑ Acetic, propionic, butyric and valeric acid. | Chang et al. (79) |
| Yeast β-glucan | |||
| Zymosan-in vitro fermentation model | ↑ Bifidobacterium, Faecalibacterium, Prevotella↓ Escherichia-Shigella↑ Acetic acid and propionic acid | Pi et al. (80) | |
Cereal and oat-β-glucan: Mixed-linkage (1,3) and (1, 4)-linked β-D-glucans, and fungal-β-glucan: (1,3) and (1, 6)-linked β-D-glucans.