Abstract:As the research on microbiomes advances, the health hazards of endotoxins, components of the cell wall of Gram-negative bacteria, have garnered increasing attention. These toxins are released into the surrounding environment after bacterial death and lysis and pose a serious threat to human health through a variety of pathways. In response to this problem, probiotics, as non-pathogenic live microbial agents, have been widely used in the prevention and treatment of endotoxin-associated injuries in the past decades. As an extension and expansion of probiotic research, postbiotics, by virtue of their inactive organisms, have demonstrated significant advantages in terms of stability and safety, providing new solutions for the prevention and treatment of endotoxin-related diseases. This article introduces the sources, action pathways, and symptomatic manifestations of endotoxins, summarizes the definition, endotoxin-removing mechanisms, and application prospects of probiotics, and reviews the research progress in postbiotics regarding the endotoxin-removing mechanisms and the application in endotoxin removal via anti-inflammatory, intestinal flora-regulatory, and epithelial barrier-enhancing effects. It is expected to provide insights for the researchers and practitioners in the related fields.
