Effects of stachyose on the intestinal microbiota and barrier in antibiotic-treated mice

[Display omitted] •Ingestion of penicillin resulted in intestinal damage and intestinal disorders;•Stachyose intake improved intestinal disorders caused by penicillin;•Stachyose reduced LPS-mediated inflammation by down-regulating the NF-κB pathway. Early-life antibiotic exposure can increase the risks for immune and metabolic disease development. However, research on the effect of stachyose on the antibiotic-destroyed microbiota is still lacking. In this study, we investigated the effect of stachyose on the gut flora of weaned mice and evaluated whether stachyose can improve the intestinal flora in early life after antibiotic consumption. We found that stachyose increased the abundance of Akkermansia in the intestinal microbiota, increased acetic and propionic acid levels, ameliorated LPS-mediated inflammation through the NF-κB pathway, and increased occludin and ZO-1 expression in penicillin-treated mice. However, when the intestinal flora was severely disrupted, stachyose could not significantly reduce intestinal inflammation or increase occludin and ZO-1 expression levels. These findings suggest that dietary supplementation with stachyose may reduce the negative impacts of antibiotic treatment, laying a foundation for the use of prebiotics to prevent and treat antibiotic-mediated infections.