No Vacancy: How Beneficial Microbes Cooperate with Immunity To Provide Colonization Resistance to Pathogens

“…22 Probiotics are defined as live microorganisms that when administered in adequate amounts may confer health benefits on people with specific illnesses. 23 Animal research and in vitro studies 24 have shown that probiotics improve gut barrier function, 25,26 inhibit gut colonization with pathogenic bacteria, 27 improve colonization with healthy commensals, 28,29 protect from enteropathogenic infection through production of acetate, 30 enhance innate immunity, 31 and increase maturation of the enteric nervous system, 32 all of which have the potential to decrease the risk of LOS in preterm infants. However, the recent Cochrane Review 33 (2014) 34 (2015) also reported similar results on LOS (RR, 0.919; 95% CI, 0.823-1.027; P = .137; 17 randomized controlled trials [RCTs], N = 5215).…”