Gut Microbiome - Tumblr Posts
The importance of microbial diversity in gut health and disease
"Using novel metagenomic approaches, scientists are at last beginning to characterize the taxonomic abundance and community relationships not only of bacteria, but also the other microbes that inhabit the gut environment,"1 says Professor Gary Wu, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. “This exciting work is bringing us one step closer to understanding the importance of microbial diversity in intestinal health and disease and could ultimately lead to new ways of diagnosing and treating gastrointestinal (GI) disease.”
His talk was one of the topics presented at the Gut Microbiota for Health World Summit in Miami, FL, USA. On March 8-9, 2014, internationally leading experts discussed the latest advances in gut microbiota research and its impact on health.
Ancylostoma caninum, a type of en:hookworm, attached to the intestinal mucosa. Source:CDC’s Public Health Image Library Image #5205
Fecal transplants successful for treating C. difficile infection
Distasteful though it sounds, the transplantation of fecal matter is more successful for treating Clostridium difficile infections than previously thought.
The research, published in the open access journal Microbiome, reveals that healthy changes to a patient’s microbiome are sustained for up to 21 weeks after transplant, and has implications for the regulation of the treatment.
Clostridium difficile infections are a growing problem, leading to recurrent cases of diarrhea and severe abdominal pain, with thousands of fatalities worldwide every year. The infection is thought to work by overrunning the intestinal microbiome - the ecosystem of microorganisms that maintain a healthy intestine.
Alexa Weingarden, Antonio Gonzalez, Yoshiki Vazquez-Baeza, Sophie Weiss, Gregory Humphrey, Donna Berg-Lyons, Dan Knights, Tatsuya Unno, Aleh Bobr, Johnthomas Kang, Alexander Khoruts, Rob Knight and Michael J Sadowsky
Dynamic Changes in Short- and Long-Term Bacterial Composition Following Fecal Microbiota Transplantation for Recurrent Clostridium difficile Infection
Microbiome 2015
DOI: 10.1186/s40168-015-0070-0
Link between intestinal bacteria, depression found
Scientists from the Farncombe Family Digestive Health Research Institute at McMaster University have discovered that intestinal bacteria play an important role in inducing anxiety and depression.
The new study, published in Nature Communications, is the first to explore the role of intestinal microbiota in the altered behavior that is a consequence of early life stress.
“We have shown for the first time in an established mouse model of anxiety and depression that bacteria play a crucial role in inducing this abnormal behaviour,” said Premysl Bercik, senior author of the paper and an associate professor of medicine with McMaster’s Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine. “But it’s not only bacteria, it’s the altered bi-directional communication between the stressed host – mice subjected to early life stress – and its microbiota, that leads to anxiety and depression.”
G. De Palma, P. Blennerhassett, J. Lu, Y. Deng, A. J. Park, W. Green, E. Denou, M. A. Silva, A. Santacruz, Y. Sanz, M. G. Surette, E. F. Verdu, S. M. Collins, P. Bercik. Microbiota and host determinants of behavioural phenotype in maternally separated mice. Nature Communications, 2015; 6: 7735 DOI: 10.1038/ncomms8735
This study is the first to explore the role of intestinal microbiota in the altered behavior that is a consequence of early life stress. Credit: © Martinan / Fotolia