Getting to the Bottom of Fecal Transplants
[Via DNA Science Blog]
Imagine that you are a bacterium, comfortably living inside a human bowel movement.
Suddenly, a chemical attack kills most of your neighbors. As other types of microorganisms arrive and begin to take over the vacated niches, they alter the milieu so that you’re washed out in a sudden stream propelled by a blast of gas. How can your few surviving colleagues back in the colon re-establish the peaceful old community?
An infusion of feces from another body can reboot a healthy microbiome in the large intestine (colon), in a biological gentrification of sorts that’s been well studied and much discussed. Now, Vincent B. Young and his team from the University of Michigan and the Essentia Institute of Rural Health in Duluth report in the May/June issue of mBio the biological functions that “fecal microbiota transplantation” (FMT) alters to restore the neighborhood of the colon.
[More]
A really nice article about a recent report on the use of fecal transplants to deal with C. diff infections. These can be very difficult to treat and can be life-threatening.
Looks like the treatment works, something we expected. But there is a ton of data regarding bacterial metabolism and such that helps inform why and how to move forward.
A Man With A Ph.D. 