Research into gut microbiome is being actively pursued now which has been discussed under the section, ‘Interactions of Bile Acids and the Gut Microbiome’. Interactions of bile acid metabolism and gut microbiota in patients with cirrhosis are discussed in this section. Similar hypotheses are being looked at in the pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel diseases and hepatocellular carcinoma in these...

The composition and activity of the gut microbiota codevelop with the host from birth and is subject to a complex interplay that depends on the host genome, nutrition, and life-style. The gut microbiota is involved in the regulation of multiple host metabolic pathways, giving rise to interactive host-microbiota metabolic, signaling, and immune-inflammatory axes that physiologically connect the ...

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a common gastrointestinal disorder with an estimated prevalence of 10-20%. Current understanding of the pathophysiology of IBS is incomplete due to the lack of a clearly identified pathological abnormality and due to the lack of reliable biomarkers. Possible mechanisms believed to contribute to IBS development and IBS like symptoms include physical stressors, s...

Chemosensing in the gastrointestinal tract is less well understood than many aspects of gut mechanosensitivity; however, it is important in the overall function of the GI tract and indeed the organism as a whole. Chemosensing in the gut represents a complex interplay between the function of enteroendocrine (EEC) cells and visceral (primarily vagal) afferent neurons. In this brief review, I will...

Survivorship of Salmonella typhimurium, Streptococcus faecalis, Proteus mirabilis, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa was studied in dibiotic and tribiotic interactions in vitro and in various regions of the digestive tract of the blow fly, Calliphora vicina. In dibiotic interactions, Salmonella typhimurium dominated Streptococcus faecalis and was dominated by P. mirabilis, but in neither case was it e...

Polyphenols, ubiquitously present in the food we consume, may modify the gut microbial composition and/or activity, and moreover, may be converted by the colonic microbiota to bioactive compounds that influence host health. The polyphenol content of fruit and vegetables and derived products is implicated in some of the health benefits bestowed on eating fruit and vegetables. Elucidating the mec...

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a multifactorial functional disorder with no clearly defined etiology or pathophysiology. Modern culture-independent techniques have improved the understanding of the gut microbiota's composition and demonstrated that an altered gut microbiota profile might be found in at least some subgroups of IBS patients. Research on IBS from a microbial perspective is gain...