In vitro co-culture of Clostridium scindens with primary human colonic epithelium protects the epithelium against Staphylococcus aureus

• Published in: Frontiers in bioengineering and biotechnology Vol. 12; p. 1382389
• Main Authors: Wang, Hao, Kim, Raehyun, Wang, Yuli, Furtado, Kathleen L, Sims, Christopher E, Tamayo, Rita, Allbritton, Nancy L
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland Frontiers Media S.A 2024
• Subjects: bile acid; enterotoxin; gut microbiome; intestine; multi-species culture; oxygen gradient; oxygen gradient; enterotoxin; gut microbiome; intestine; bile acid; multi-species culture; interactions
• ISSN: 2296-4185; 2296-4185
• DOI: 10.3389/fbioe.2024.1382389

A complex and dynamic network of interactions exists between human gastrointestinal epithelium and intestinal microbiota. Therefore, comprehending intestinal microbe-epithelial cell interactions is critical for the understanding and treatment of intestinal diseases. Primary human colonic epithelial cells derived from a healthy human donor were co-cultured with
(
), a probiotic obligate anaerobe;
(
), a facultative anaerobe and intestinal pathogen; or both bacterial species in tandem. The co-culture hanging basket platform used for these experiments possessed walls of controlled oxygen (O
) permeability to support the formation of an O
gradient across the intestinal epithelium using cellular O
consumption, resulting in an anaerobic luminal and aerobic basal compartment. Both the colonic epithelial cells and
remained viable over 48 h during co-culture. In contrast, co-culture with
elicited significant damage to colonic epithelial cells within 24 h. To explore the influence of the intestinal pathogen on the epithelium in the presence of the probiotic bacteria, colonic epithelial cells were inoculated sequentially with the two bacterial species. Under these conditions,
was capable of repressing the production of
enterotoxin. Surprisingly, although
converted cholic acid to secondary bile acids in the luminal medium, the growth of
was not significantly inhibited. Nevertheless, this combination of probiotic and pathogenic bacteria was found to benefit the survival of the colonic epithelial cells compared with co-culture of the epithelial cells with
alone. This platform thus provides an easy-to-use and low-cost tool to study the interaction between intestinal bacteria and colonic cells
to better understand the interplay of intestinal microbiota with human colonic epithelium.