Non-invasive VOCs detection to monitor the gut microbiota metabolism in-vitro

This work implemented a non-invasive volatile organic compounds (VOCs) monitoring approach to study how food components are metabolised by the gut microbiota in-vitro. The fermentability of a model food matrix rich in dietary fibre (oat bran), and a pure prebiotic (inulin), added to a minimal gut medium was compared by looking at global changes in the volatilome. The substrates were incubated with a stabilised human faecal inoculum over a 24-h period, and VOCs were monitored without interfering with biological processes. The fermentation was performed in nitrogen-filled vials, with controlled temperature, and tracked by automated headspace-solid-phase microextraction coupled with gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. To understand the molecular patterns over time, we applied a multivariate longitudinal statistical framework: repeated measurements—ANOVA simultaneous component analysis. The methodology was able to discriminate the studied groups by looking at VOCs temporal profiles. The volatilome showed a time-dependency that was more distinct after 12 h. Short to medium-chain fatty acids showed increased peak intensities, mainly for oat bran and for inulin, but with different kinetics. At the same time, alcohols, aldehydes, and esters showed distinct trends with discriminatory power. The proposed approach can be applied to study the intertwined pathways of gut microbiota food components interaction in-vitro.