Restoration of gut dysbiosis through Clostridium butyricum and magnesium possibly balance blood glucose levels: an experimental study

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a chronic metabolic disorder characterized by an elevated level of blood glucose due to the absence of insulin secretion, ineffectiveness, or lack of uptake of secreted insulin in the body.

The improperly diagnosed and poorly managed DM can cause severe damage to organs in the body like the nerves, eyes, heart, and kidneys.

This study was aimed at investigating the effect of Clostridium butyricum (probiotic) with magnesium supplementation to evaluate the effect on gut microbial dysbiosis and blood glucose levels.

In the laboratory, 6–8 weeks old 24 male albino rats weighing 200–250 g were given free access to water and food.

Diabetes was induced using streptozotocin (60 mg/kg) in overnight fasted rats.

Diabetic rats were randomly divided into four groups ( n  = 6, 6 replicates in each group).

Metformin (100 mg/kg/day) with a standard basal diet was provided to control group (G_0), Clostridium butyricum (1.5 × 10^5 CFU/day) with standard basal diet was provided to treatment group (G_1), magnesium (500 mg/kg/day) was provided to group (G_2).

Clostridium butyricum (1.5 × 10^5 CFU/day) and magnesium (300 mg/kg/day) in combination with a standard basal diet was provided to group (G_3).

Blood Glucose, Magnesium blood test and microbial assay were done.

Random blood glucose levels were monitored twice a week for 21 days and were represented as mean of each week.

The results conclude that Clostridium butyricum (1.5 × 10^5 CFU) is very effective in balancing random blood glucose levels from 206.6 ± 67.7 to 85.1 ± 3.8 ( p  = 0.006) compared to other groups ( p  > 0.005).

The results of stool analysis showed that Clostridium butyricum as probiotic restores microbial dysbiosis as evident by the 10^5 CFU Clostridium butyricum load in G_1, which was higher than G_0, G_2 and G_3 which were 10^3 and 10^4 CFU respectively.

The findings of this study conclude that Clostridium butyricum supplementation improved blood glucose levels and intestinal bacterial load in type II diabetes mellitus.