Fig 1.
Sucralose possess bacteriostatic effect on E. coli in vitro.
(A) Sucralose inhibited E. coli HB101 growth on agar plates. E. coli culture in the exponential growth phase was diluted to 10−7 or 10−6 /ml and inoculated on LB-agar plates containing 0%, 1.25% and 2.5% sucralose (w/v). Colonies were counted after 24h. (B) Quantification of colonies, n = 3 replicated plates. (C) Colony size was also reduced on sucralose-containing plates, n = 45–52 colonies. (D) Sucralose inhibits E. coli HB101 growth in liquid culture, n = 3. (E-F) The IC50 of sucralose on the growth of (E) the E. coli HB101 strain and (F) the E. coli K-12 strain, n = 3. All data represent mean ± S.E.M. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) with Bonferroni’s test was used for multiple comparisons in Fig 1B–1D. *p<0.05, **p <0.01, ***p <0.001, ****p <0.0001. n.s.,not significant.
Fig 2.
Ace K and saccharin show bacteriostatic effects on E. coli in vitro.
Ace K (2.5%, w/v) and saccharin (2.5%, w/v) inhibited (A) E. coli HB101 and (B) E. coli K-12 strains in LB liquid culture, n = 3. All data represent mean ± S.E.M., One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) with Bonferroni’s test was used for multiple comparisons. ***p <0.001.
Fig 3.
The natural NNS reb A possesses a selective bacteriostatic effect on E. coli in vitro.
Reb A (2.5%, w/v) inhibited the growth of E. coli HB101 colonies (A, B), but not E. coli K-12 colonies (A, C), n = 3. All data represent mean ± S.E.M., Wilcoxon match-pairs signed rank test was used. * p<0.05. n.s., not significant.
Fig 4.
Sucralose promotes faecal excretion in mice.
(A) Schematic for the mouse study. (B) Sucralose intake. (C) Body weight. (D) Food intake. (E) Calories intake. (F) Water intake. (G) Faecal weight. All data n = 8 mice per group, represented as mean ± S.E.M., two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) with Bonferroni’s test for multiple comparisons was used. *p<0.05, ****p <0.0001, n.s., not significant.
Fig 5.
The NNS sucralose alters gut microbiota in mice.
(A) Alpha diversity of gut microbiota for the diets used. (B) The abundances of the major phyla of gut microbiota after various diets. (C) Relative changes in abundance of major microbiota phyla in chow fed mice. (D) Relative changes in abundance of major microbiota phyla in HFD fed mice. (E) Relative changes in genus of Clostridium and Bifidobacterium in chow fed mice. (F) Relative changes in genus of Clostridium and Bifidobacterium in HFD fed mice. All data n = 8 mice per group represented mean ± S.E.M., Two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) with Bonferroni’s test for multiple comparisons was used. * p <0.05, n.s., not significant.