Abstract
The gut environment, including the microbiota and its metabolites and short-chain fatty acids (SCFA), is essential for health maintenance. It is considered that functional recovery treatment for masticatory dysphagia affects the composition of the gut microbiota, indicating that habitual mastication, depending on the hardness of the food, may affect the gut microbiota and environment. However, the impact of chronic powdered diet feeding on the colonic condition and motility remains unclear. Here, we evaluated various colonic features in mice fed with powdered diets for a long-term and a mouse model with masticatory behavior. We observed a decreased abundance of the SCFA-producing bacterial genera in the ceca of the powdered diet-fed mice. Based on the importance of SCFAs in gut immune homeostasis and motility, interestingly, powdered diet feeding also resulted in constipation-like symptoms due to mild colitis, which were ameliorated by the administration of a neutrophil-depleting agent and neutrophil elastase inhibitors. Lastly, the suppressed colonic motility in the powdered diet-fed mice was significantly improved by loading masticatory activity for 2 h. Thus, feeding habits with appropriate masticatory activity and stimulation may play a key role in providing a favorable gut environment based on interactions between the gut microbiota and host immune system.