The Role of Fecal Microbiota Transplantation in Neurological Diseases
David Perlmutter in The Microbiome and the Brain, 2019
The bacterial communities that comprise the gut microbiome represent a continuum that increases both in number and complexity as you move through the gastrointestinal tract. The largest and most diverse microbial population is found in the colon, so most of the extant research has focused on the fecal microbiota. The patient was subsequently offered Fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) as a treatment for tic symptoms and was administered 100 ml dose FMT via gastroscopy into the small intestine and 300 ml via colonoscopy using stool from a healthy 14-year-old male donor. The gut mycobiome, which encompasses all fungal strains within the gut, is an often-neglected component of the gut microbiome as it has been poorly studied and characterized. The mycobiome plays a significant role, similar to that of the gut microbiota, in maintaining a balanced enteric microbial ecosystem, and has consequently been implicated in a number of gut-associated neurological and psychiatric diseases.
The Specimen
Donald L. Price in Procedure Manual for the Diagnosis of Intestinal Parasites, 2017
Chemical tests, such as total fat, bile pigments, nitrogen content, and trypsin, are performed on unpreserved fecal specimens. A general discussion of specimen collection is presented by Melvin and Brooke. Regardless of the kind of test to be performed in the clinical laboratory or the methods to be used, the first requirement is collecting the specimen. For clinical parasitology, normally passed stools are generally considered to be preferable. Procedures such as enemas can have a negative effect on specimen quality especially in patients with protozoan infections. If optimal results are desired and expected, proper collection and preparation of the specimen is paramount. Proper handling instructions and an outline of routing to the laboratory should be at those sites where fecal specimens are collected. Clear, concise, and complete instructions should be available at each station along the route to the laboratory where the final examination will be performed.
Male anorectal malformation: Case study
Victoria A. Lane, Richard J. Wood, Carlos A. Reck-Burneo, Marc A. Levitt in Pediatric Colorectal and Pelvic Surgery, 2017
This chapter presents a case study of a newborn male infant with an anorectal malformation seen at 26 hours of age. He has undergone his routine VACTERL screening as per the protocol. In this patient there is a rectourethral fistula and the colon needs to be separated from the urinary tract. The raised area (skin tag) marks the center of the sphincter complex and the anoplasty should be centered here. It is somewhat anterior, and close to the scrotum, typical of a bladder neck or prostatic fistula. A mucous fistula is required to perform the distal colostogram in order to identify the level of the site of the fistula (e.g., rectobulbar or rectoprostatic). A loop colostomy should be avoided because fecal material can potentially spill into the mucous fistula.
Hypogonadism alters cecal and fecal microbiota in male mice
Published in Gut Microbes, 2016
Naoki Harada, Ryo Hanaoka, Kazuki Hanada, Takeshi Izawa, Hiroshi Inui, Ryoichi Yamaji
Low testosterone levels increase the risk for cardiovascular disease in men and lead to shorter life spans. Our recent study showed that androgen deprivation via castration altered fecal microbiota and exacerbated risk factors for cardiovascular disease, including obesity, impaired fasting glucose, excess hepatic triglyceride accumulation, and thigh muscle weight loss only in high-fat diet (HFD)-fed male mice. However, when mice were administered antibiotics that disrupted the gut microbiota, castration did not increase cardiovascular risks or decrease the ratio of dried feces to food intake. Here, we show that changes in cecal microbiota (e.g., an increased Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes ratio and number of Lactobacillus species) were consistent with changes in feces and that there was a decreased cecal content secondary to castration in HFD mice. Castration increased rectal body temperature and plasma adiponectin, irrespective of diet. Changes in the gut microbiome may provide novel insight into hypogonadism-induced cardiovascular diseases.
Fecal volatile organic compounds: a novel, cheaper method of diagnosing inflammatory bowel disease?
Published in Expert Review of Clinical Immunology, 2014
Chris SJ Probert, Sophie Reade, Iftikhar Ahmed
The investigation of a novel, cheaper method of diagnosing inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is an area of active research. Recently, investigations into the metabolomic profile of IBD patients and animal models of colitis compared to healthy controls has begun to receive considerable attention and correlations between the fecal volatile organic compound (VOC) metabolome and IBD is merging. Patients and clinicians have often reported a change in odor of feces during relapse of IBD. Therefore, this article will focus specifically on the fecal VOC metabolome and its potential role in identifying a novel diagnostic method for IBD.
Fecal fat determination with a modified titration method
Published in Scandinavian Journal of Gastroenterology, 2010
Arnold Berstad, Friedemann Erchinger, Aud-Sissel Hjartholm
Objective. Intestinal malabsorption is a serious condition which unfortunately may remain unrecognized due to methodological problems. The old titration method of van de Kamer is still the gold standard. We present a modification of the method, pointing out practical improvements and pitfalls. Material and methods. Our method uses less than one tenth of the amount of feces originally described, which implies proper mixing and homogenization of all feces collected over 72 hrs. Validation is performed by measuring fat concentration in commercial milk products. Results. Reproducibility and validity were satisfactory. Concentration and output of fecal fat was poorly correlated, indicating that fecal output is required for diagnosing intestinal malabsorption. Our experiments also highlight the importance of using a non-polar extraction agent because polar agents take up water-soluble short chain fatty acids which are derived from fermentation of carbohydrates and give erroneous results. Conclusion. The modified method is reliable and robust and minimizes the aesthetical problems associated with fecal fat determination.
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