Mammalian herbivores rely on microbial activities in an expanded gut chamber to convert plant biomass into absorbable nutrients. Distinct from ruminants, small herbivores typically have a simple stomach but an enlarged cecum to harbor symbiotic microbes; however, knowledge of this specialized gut structure and characteristics of its microbial contents is limited. Here, we used leaf-eating flyin...

Obesity is a serious public health issue affecting both children and adults. Prevention and management of obesity is proposed to begin in childhood when environmental factors exert a long-term effect on the risk for obesity in adulthood. Thus, identifying modifiable factors may help to reduce this risk. Recent evidence suggests that gut microbiota is involved in the control of body weight, ener...

An essential role of the intestine is to build and maintain a barrier preventing the luminal gut microbiota from invading the host. This involves two coordinated physical and immunological barriers formed by single layers of intestinal epithelial and endothelial cells, which avoid the activation of local immune responses or the systemic dissemination of microbial agents, and preserve tissue hom...

Obesity is a major public health issue as it is causally related to several chronic disorders, including type-2 diabetes, CVD and cancer. Novel research shows that the gut microbiota is involved in obesity and metabolic disorders, revealing that obese animal and human subjects have alterations in the composition of the gut microbiota compared to their lean counterparts. Moreover, transplantatio...

gut microbiota is formed by ten of trillions of microorganisms with at least 1000 different species of known bacteria. one - third of an individual gut microbiota is common to most people, while two - thirds are specific to him. growing amount of evidence indicates that gut microbiota characteristics may play an important role in mental dysfunctions. molecular mimicry between several key neurop...

The prevalence of metabolic disorders, such as type 2 diabetes (T2D), obesity, and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), which are common risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD), has dramatically increased worldwide over the last decades. Although dietary habit is the main etiologic factor, there is an imperfect correlation between dietary habits and the development of metabolic dise...

the use of manometry, i.e. the recording of pressures within hollow viscera, after being successfully applied to the study of esophageal and anorectal motor dysfunctions, has also been used to investigate physiological and pathological conditions of the small bowel. by means of this technique, it has been possible to understand better the normal motor functions of the small intestine, and their...

Multiorgan failure frequently develops in critically ill patients. While therapeutic efforts in such patients are often focused on the lungs, on the cardiovascular system as well as on the kidneys, it is important to also consider the functional alterations in gut motility and hormone secretion. Given the central regulatory functions of many gut hormones, such as glucagon-like peptide 1, glucag...