MSGID: 1:317/3 6493ce72   
   PID: hpt/lnx 1.9.0-cur 2019-01-08   
   TID: hpt/lnx 1.9.0-cur 2019-01-08   
    Helping 'good' gut bacteria and clearing out the 'bad' -- all in one   
   treatment    
      
     Date:   
         June 21, 2023   
     Source:   
         American Chemical Society   
     Summary:   
         Probiotics can help maintain a healthy gut microbiome or   
         restore populations of 'good bacteria' after a heavy course of   
         antibiotics. But now, they could also be used as an effective   
         treatment strategy for certain intestinal diseases, such as Crohn's   
         disease. Researchers have developed a microgel delivery system   
         for probiotics that keeps 'good' bacteria safe while actively   
         clearing out 'bad' ones. In mice, the system treated intestinal   
         inflammation without side effects.   
      
      
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   FULL STORY   
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   Probiotics can help maintain a healthy gut microbiome or restore   
   populations of "good bacteria" after a heavy course of antibiotics. But   
   now, they could also be used as an effective treatment strategy for   
   certain intestinal diseases, such as Crohn's disease. Researchers   
   reporting in ACS Central Science have developed a microgel delivery system   
   for probiotics that keeps "good" bacteria safe while actively clearing out   
   "bad" ones. In mice, the system treated intestinal inflammation without   
   side effects.   
      
   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.   
      
   An alternative strategy 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. So, Zhenzhong Zhang, Junjie Liu, Jinjin Shi and colleagues   
   wanted to combine probiotics with specialized microgel spheres that   
   could not only protect the good bacteria, but also actively help clear   
   out the bad.   
      
   To create their system, the researchers combined sodium alginate, tungsten   
   and calcium-containing nanoparticles into small, spherical microgels,   
   then coated them with beneficial, probiotic bacteria. The gels protected   
   the bacteria as they made their way through the stomach and increased   
   their retention time in the colon. Once there, calprotectin proteins --   
   highly expressed during colitis -- bound to the calcium and disassembled   
   the gels, allowing the tungsten to escape. By displacing molybdenum in   
   a key enzyme substrate of the bad bacterium Enterobacteriaceae, tungsten   
   inhibited the microbe's growth while leaving the probiotics unaffected. In   
   experiments using a colitis mouse model, the system allowed probiotics   
   to proliferate in the intestine without any side effects.   
      
   Additionally, mice with the microgel spheres did not exhibit many of   
   the hallmarks of colitis, such as shortened colons or damaged intestinal   
   barriers, showing that the delivery system could be a viable treatment   
   strategy. Though the researchers also want to prove its utility in more   
   advanced preclinical models, they say that this work provides a new   
   perspective into treatments using colonizing probiotics.   
      
   The authors acknowledge funding from the National Natural Science   
   Foundation of China, the Outstanding Youth Foundation of Henan Province   
   and the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation.   
      
       * RELATED_TOPICS   
             o Health_&_Medicine   
                   # Gastrointestinal_Problems # Colitis # Crohn's_Disease   
                   # Pharmacology   
             o Matter_&_Energy   
                   # Solar_Energy # Nanotechnology # Robotics_Research #   
                   Ultrasound   
       * RELATED_TERMS   
             o South_Beach_diet o Parasympathetic_nervous_system o   
             Escherichia_coli o Flatulence o Healthy_diet o Pathogen o   
             Pneumonia o Bacteria   
      
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   Story Source: Materials provided by American_Chemical_Society. Note:   
   Content may be edited for style and length.   
      
      
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   Journal Reference:   
      1. Jiali Yang, Mengyun Peng, Shaochong Tan, Shengchan Ge, Li Xie,   
      Tonghai   
         Zhou, Wei Liu, Kaixiang Zhang, Zhenzhong Zhang, Junjie Liu,   
         Jinjin Shi.   
      
         Calcium Tungstate Microgel Enhances the Delivery and   
         Colonization of Probiotics during Colitis via Intestinal   
         Ecological Niche Occupancy. ACS Central Science, 2023; DOI:   
         10.1021/acscentsci.3c00227   
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   Link to news story:   
   https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/06/230621105419.htm   
      
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