Understanding the functions of the human gut microbiota and its associated phageome is of major interest. The human gut contains about 10¹⁵ phage particles, suggesting that phages may modulate the gut microbiota. Nevertheless, the targeted application of phages in the human gastrointestinal tract (GIT) faces numerous challenges, i.e., availability of appropriate phage delivery systems and sensitivity of phages to gastrointestinal conditions. In the present study, a dynamic gastrointestinal model (TIM-1 system) was used to investigate i) the survival kinetics of the lactococcal phage P008 added to three different “test meals” and ii) the delivery of this phage to the large intestine. In the stomach compartment, a protective effect of the food matrix was documented on phage stability. The highest survival rate in the stomach was observed for encapsulated phages and a residual phage titer (in total) of 8 log pfu was detected after 240 min digestion at a pH < 2.0. However, release from the gastric compartment appeared to be significantly delayed in this case. Regardless of the used "test meal", high phage delivery from the ileal compartment was observed after 4 h of digestion, with a maximum value of 27% for phages suspended in milk concentrate. Hence, this study indicates that phages survive in significant numbers (i.e., >90%) during passage through the upper human GIT and may hence be able – when added e.g. to a dairy food matrix – to affect the activity of the human gut microbiota.

理解人类肠道菌群及其相关的噬菌体的功能具有重大意义。人的肠内含有约10 ¹⁵噬菌体颗粒，提示噬菌体可调节肠道菌群。然而，噬菌体在人胃肠道（GIT）中的靶向应用面临许多挑战，即合适的噬菌体递送系统的可用性和噬菌体对胃肠道状况的敏感性。在本研究中，动态胃肠道模型（TIM-1系统）用于研究i）添加到三种不同“试验餐”中的乳球菌噬菌体P008的存活动力学，以及ii）将该噬菌体递送至大肠。在胃腔中，食物基质对噬菌体稳定性有保护作用。对于封装的噬菌体，在胃中观察到最高的存活率，并且在pH <2.0的条件下消化240分钟后，检出的剩余噬菌体滴度（总计）为8 log pfu。然而，在这种情况下，胃腔的释放似乎明显延迟。不管使用哪种“试验餐”，消化4小时后均能从回肠区获得高噬菌体递送，悬浮在浓缩牛奶中的噬菌体的最大值为27％。因此，这项研究表明，噬菌体在通过上层人类GIT期间会大量存活（即> 90％），因此，当将其添加到（例如）乳制品食品基质中时，可能会影响人类肠道菌群的活性。