What influences gut motility?

Authors of a new Cell paper gave groups of germ-free mice fecal microbiota samples from six healthy adults representing five different habitual diets: American (both a standard diet and a 'primal' diet), Bangladeshi, Malawian, and Amerindian.

Authors of a new Cell paper gave groups of germ-free mice fecal microbiota samples from six healthy adults representing five different habitual diets: American (both a standard diet and a ‘primal’ diet), Bangladeshi, Malawian, and Amerindian. Each transplant recipient was fed a sequence of five diets, which simulated what the human donors typically consumed, almost as if each mouse had traveled to the different geographical locations and eaten what the locals ate.

Researchers found that the relationship between gut microbiota and transit time depended on diet. In particular, turmeric slowed motility in the mice with a Bangladeshi microbiota and diet. The mechanism involved bile acid secretion/deconjugation and Ret signaling in the enteric nervous system (ENS).

These data support the idea that gut motility is affected by different combinations of gut microbiota and diet interacting with the ENS.

Dey N, et al. (2015) Regulators of Gut Motility Revealed by a Gnotobiotic Model of Diet-Microbiome Interactions Related to Travel. Cell DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2015.08.059

Paul Enck

Prof. Dr. Paul Enck, Director of Research, Dept. of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Tübingen, Germany. His main interests are gut functions in health and disease, including functional and inflammatory bowel disorders, the role of the gut microbiota, regulation of eating and food intake and its disorders, of nausea, vomiting and motion sickness, and the psychophysiology and neurobiology of the placebo response, with specific emphasis on age and gender contributions. He has published more than 170 original data paper in scientific, peer-reviewed journals, and more than 250 book chapters and review articles. He is board member/treasurer of the European Society of Neurogastroenterology and Motility and of the German Society of Neurogastroenterology and Motility, and has served as reviewer for many international journals and grant agencies.