Genes Nutr (2011) 6:209–240 229 Table 7 Details of studies performed to examine the effects of probiotic intervention on intestinal microbiota composition of healthy subjects determined with culture-independent methods Population Animals Healthy rats (n = 30) Healthy mice (n = 16) Healthy ﬁsh (red tilapia) (n = 12) Humans Healthy adults (n = 10) Healthy adults (n = 30) Healthy children (n = 26) Preterm infants (n = 69) Study groups (based on treatment) Study material Probiotic: B. lactis Bl and S. thermophilus Caecum (tissue and contents) Prebiotic: FOS Placebo: only carrier material Probiotic: L. casei Probiotic: L. plantarum Probiotic: mixture of L. casei and L. plantarum Control: no treatment Probiotic: diet containing Pediococcus acidilactici Placebo: normal diet Probiotic: milk powder containing L. rhamnosus DR20 Probiotic: B. animalis subsp. lactis Bb-12 Prebiotic: GOS Synbiotic: GOS and B. animalis subsp. lactis Bb-12 Probiotic: Yoghurt containing L. delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus, S. thermophilus and L. paracasei A Placebo: pasteurised yoghurt Probiotic: B. animalis subsp. lactis Bb-12 Placebo: only carrier material Faeces Intestinal tissue Intestinal contents Faeces Faeces Faeces Faeces Analytical methods Conventional culturing DGGE DGGE T-RFLP Clone-library sequencing Conventional culturing DGGE Conventional culturing FISH DGGE DGGE Conventional culturing RAPD-PCR DGGE Conventional culturing FISH Key ﬁndings References Both prebiotic and probiotic group: Montesi et al. (2005) ; Clostridia ; Bacteroides ; total anaerobes Prebiotic-treated group: ; coliforms : Biﬁdobacterium Probiotic-treated group: : diversity : coliforms Mixture-treated group: No signiﬁcant effect on dominant microbiota composition Shifts in the diversity of Lactobacillus species Probiotic-treated group: ; Species richness and diversity Transiently colonization by P. acidilactici Probiotic-treated group: No signiﬁcant effect on dominant microbiota composition All groups: No qualitative changes in faecal Biﬁdobacterium communities Probiotic/synbiotic-treated groups: Transiently colonization by B. animalis subsp. lactis Bb-12 Probiotic-treated group: No signiﬁcant effect on dominant microbiota composition GI survival and transiently colonization by L. paracasei A Probiotic-treated group: : Biﬁdobacterium Fuentes et al. (2008) Ferguson et al. (2010) Tannock et al. (2000) Satokari et al. (2001) Marzotto et al. (2006) Mohan et al. (2006) 123