Over the years, medical experts have discovered the numerous roles that gut bacteria play in overall health, from the digestive system to send signals to the brain. Gut health can also determine if you have conditions like diabetes and how the body responds to drug treatments. A team from Purdue University developed a small tool that patients can swallow to track gut bacteria health.
The gut contains healthy bacteria that aid the immune system to fight viruses and inflammation. Although scientists have various studies focused on gut bacteria, there had been no previous methods of directly extracting bacteria samples inside the gastrointestinal tract.
An unhealthy gut usually results in digestive problems such as pain, constipation, nausea, and vomiting. Some of these symptoms are present in coronavirus as well as illnesses ranging from cardiovascular disease to neurological diseases.
A 'Gutoscopy'
The tool is similar to a colonoscopy, a procedure where doctors use a camera to assess the colon, but can move through the whole gastrointestinal tract. This includes the mouth, esophagus, stomach, pancreas, liver, gallbladder, intestines, and rectum, where the tool takes samples of bacteria, conducting a 'gutoscopy.' Their study was recently published in the Royal Society of Chemistry journal RSC Advances.
Before, taking samples of gut bacteria had been impossible, shared Professor Rahim Rahimi, who teaches materials engineering. "It's all about being able to take samples of bacteria anywhere in the gut."
Capsule endoscopy is already widely available but does not collect samples of bacteria like the new capsule tool. It only contains a video camera. "If a colonoscopy or camera pill sees blood, it can't sample that area to investigate further. You could just sample bacteria from a person's fecal matter, but bacteria can vary a lot throughout the GI tract. Our approach could be complementary," Rahimi explained.
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Resin Capsule
The Purdue team initially tested the capsule prototype in the GI tract of pigs, which are similar to the human gut. The capsule is composed of resin, which was 3D-printed. The nontoxic material that is also used to make dental implants was slightly modified for ingestion.
The cap dissolves when it is exposed to the gut's pH. Inside the capsule is a hydrogel that expands and collects bacteria from the intestinal fluid. When it is done collecting samples, pressure closes the capsule's opening.
The prototype was also tested in several environments, such as harmful gut bacteria. Experiments revealed that the capsule could effectively trace bleach and Escherichia coli (E. coli) in about an hour.
Inside the human body, the capsule would stay in the GI tract until the person deposits fecal matter, where the capsule is collected after. The capsule filled with bacteria samples can then be screwed open and analyzed.
"This approach is providing new opportunities to study what type of bacteria are present in the gut. It would help us figure out how to manipulate these bacteria to combat disease," Rahimi said. Discovering how gut bacteria respond to drug treatment can help with the development of medicine, especially antibiotics.
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