Obesity adversely affects female reproductive health via metabolic dysregulation, chronic inflammation, and hormonal imbalances, leading to conditions such as ovulatory dysfunction, polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), and pregnancy complications. Emerging evidence identifies gut microbiota dysbiosis as a key mediator that transmits obesity-related metabolic and inflammatory signals to the reproductive system. Characteristic alterations in obesity—including an elevated Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes (F/B) ratio, reduced short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) production, and endotoxemia—promote reproductive dysfunction by activating inflammatory pathways and disrupting hormonal balance. Targeting the gut microbiota with probiotics offers a promising therapeutic approach through structural and functional remodeling of the microbiota, enhanced barrier integrity, and immunomodulation. Nevertheless, challenges such as insufficient understanding of strain-specific mechanisms, scarce clinical evidence, and the absence of personalized protocols persist. This review synthesizes the impact of obesity on female reproduction, outlines the gut microbiota's regulatory role, and explores the dual mechanisms of probiotic action. Future research should leverage multi-omics technologies, stratified population studies, and functional strain analysis to facilitate the translational application of probiotics in reproductive medicine.

Obesity is a global health challenge closely linked to gut microbiota dysbiosis. This study investigated the anti-obesity effects of Bifidobacterium breve B2798 in a high-fat diet (HFD)-induced mouse model. Male C57BL/6 mice were fed a 60% HFD with or without daily oral administration of B. breve B2798 12 weeks. Probiotic intervention significantly reduced body weight gain, visceral adiposity, and hepatic steatosis compared to the HFD group. Serum lipid profiling revealed increased HDL-C levels in the probiotic-treated group, indicating improved metabolic health. Fecal metagenomic analysis showed that B. breve B2798 reshaped the gut microbiota, enriching beneficial taxa such as Ligilactobacillus while reducing pro-inflammatory Faecalibaculum rodentium. Untargeted metabolomics of fecal and serum samples revealed significant modulation of metabolic pathways, including bile acid metabolism, amino acid biosynthesis, and short-chain fatty acid production. Key metabolites such as chenodeoxycholic acid, limonin, azelaic acid, and syringic acid were elevated in the B. breve B2798-treated group and are linked to anti-obesity and anti-inflammatory effects. Integrated correlation analysis demonstrated strong associations between microbial shifts, metabolic changes, and improved phenotypes. These findings, obtained in a murine model, suggest that B. breve B2798 alleviates obesity through a gut microbiota-host metabolic axis, offering a promising adjunctive probiotic strategy for metabolic disease prevention.

Gut microbes especially the beneficial ones play an important role in maintaining human health. At present, the research methods for intestinal microbes are mainly based on non-culture technologies such as metagenomics. The relationship between intestinal microbes and the body’s health can be found by using metagenomic sequencing technology. Researchers have found that most of the bacteria in the gut are uncultured, and their molecular mechanisms of action are unclear. Culturomics can be used to successfully isolate and culture some intestinal bacteria difficult to culture by improving the composition of culture medium and optimizing the culture conditions. The application of culturomics provides technical support for research on the functions of intestinal bacteria in the host and further screening of beneficial intestinal bacteria. Therefore, using culturomics technology to cultivate more beneficial intestinal bacteria and studying their phenotypes and gene functions are future research priorities. This article reviews the culturomics of and the cultivation methods for intestinal beneficial bacteria for the purpose of providing a reference for the cultivation of beneficial intestinal microorganisms for human health.

Modern lifestyle and diet have increased the incidence rate of uric acid (UA) metabolism-related diseases like hyperuricemia (HUA) and gout, posing heavy economic burden to individual patients and their families and the society. UA metabolism is a complex physiological process involving the kidney, intestine, and other organs. A number of factors together regulate UA metabolism, including genetics, diet, hormones, and the gut microbiota. This review summaries the gut microbiota features in subjects with HUA and gout, and the therapeutic effects of implementing microecological therapies (probiotics, prebiotics, or fecal microbiota transplant) that target modulate the gut microbiota and its downstream metabolism on the disease. Current evidence shows that these strategies are safe and promising in alleviate inflammation, reduce UA, and restoring a healthy gut microbiota in subjects with UA metabolism-related diseases. However, most clinical data are generated by animal studies. Therefore, we propose that vigorous human intervention trials should be conducted in the future to evaluate the therapeutic effects of microecological therapies in managing HUA and gout.

Infant intestinal microbiome is closely linked with health and risk of disease. Bifidobacterium are important components of the infant gut and are known to confer various health effects on the host. However, few studies have described the precise composition and dynamics of early infant gut bifidobacterial communities. Thus, this was a pilot study aiming to describe the developmental trajectories and temporal dynamics of bifidobacterial communities in infants before 6 months of age. A total of 28 fecal samples from 4 infants (GF, ZZ, QM, TN, respectively) were collected and analyzed after 5, 15, 30, 60, 90, 120, 150, and 180 days of birth by a bifidobacteria-target method (based on single-molecule real-time sequencing of partial bifidobacterial rpsK genes) in conjunction with droplet digital polymerase chain reaction (ddPCR). The infant fecal microbiota comprised a total of 11 bifidobacterial species, including 4 major species, i.e., B. dentium (37.35%), B. catenulatum (32.04%), B. breve (22.24%), and B. animalis (8.02%). The infant microbiota showed highly individualized developmental trajectories. The leading species for GF was B. catenulatum, with a relatively stable developmental trajectory. In ZZ, B. breve was enriched, and the developmental trajectory was rather fluctuating. The most abundant species for QM and TN was B. dentium. The developmental trajectory of B. dentium in QM showed a trend of gradual decrease, whereas an opposite trend was seen in samples of TN. The results of ddPCR confirmed large variations in quantities of bifidobacteria between infants and suggested discordances in temporal dynamics of bifidobacterial communities during the first half year of infancy. In conclusion, our results suggested that the early infant gut bifidobacterial microbiota was highly complex and temporal dynamics, with individualized developmental trajectories, which should be considered in future research of infant gut microbiota.