AUTHOR=Peterson Christine T. , Iablokov Stanislav N. , Uchitel Sasha , Chopra Deepak , Perez-Santiago Josue , Rodionov Dmitry A. , Peterson Scott N. TITLE=Community Metabolic Interactions, Vitamin Production and Prebiotic Potential of Medicinal Herbs Used for Immunomodulation JOURNAL=Frontiers in Genetics VOLUME=12 YEAR=2021 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/genetics/articles/10.3389/fgene.2021.584197 DOI=10.3389/fgene.2021.584197 ISSN=1664-8021 ABSTRACT=
Historically, the health benefits and immunomodulatory potential of medicinal herbs have been considered an intrinsic quality of the herb itself. We have hypothesized that the health benefits of medicinal herbs may be partially due to their prebiotic potential that alter gut microbiota leading to changes in short chain fatty acids and vitamin production or biotransformation of herb encoded molecules and secondary metabolites. Accumulating studies emphasize the relationship between the gut microbiota and host immune function. While largely unknown, these interactions are mediated by secreted microbial products that activate or repress a variety of immune cell types. Here we evaluated the effect of immunomodulatory, medicinal Ayurvedic herbs on gut microbiota