The power of probiotics as an effective treatment strategy for digestive diseases is only just being realised
Most people are aware of probiotics and their role in helping to maintain a healthy gut microbiome or restore populations of good bacteria after a heavy course of antibiotics.
Now, researchers have discovered that probiotics could be used as an effective treatment for certain intestinal diseases such as Crohn's.
They have developed a microgel delivery system for probiotics that keeps "good" bacteria safe while actively clearing out "bad" ones.
In the digestive system, there's a delicate balance of bacterial populations.
When this balance is disrupted, bad bacteria can take over the colon, causing it to swell, resulting in colitis.
Certain diseases, including inflammatory bowel disease and Crohn's disease, involve chronic colitis and currently require immunosuppressants to treat them.
These drugs are expensive and non-specific - sometimes giving rise to antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
The alternative is to deliver beneficial bacteria, or probiotics, to help restore balance.
But to reach the colon, a treatment must first pass through stomach acid, withstand being cleared out by the intestine, then fight for space alongside the numerous invading bacteria.
Pairing probiotics with a drug delivery system could make this strategy feasible, though most current approaches simply protect the probiotics from digestion without affecting the microbes responsible for the condition.
Find out more about the research here.
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