LONDON, May 24 (UPI) -- British scientists have determined maintaining a balance of microbial flora in one's gut may be important to preventing some metabolic diseases.
The gut of mammalian species harbors extraordinarily complex microbial flora that, collectively, comprise more than 100 times as many genes as the human genome -- a fact that's prompted the use of the term "superorganism" to describe that massive symbiotic association.
Accordingly, gut microbial ecology has been suggested to play an important role in such diseases as diabetes and obesity.
In the new study, Jeremy Nicholson and colleagues at Imperial College London used metabolic profiling techniques to monitor changes in bile acid composition and lipid metabolism in mice whose gut flora had been replaced by human bacterial flora.
The scientists found the mice showed alteration in the composition of their bile acids and circulating lipoprotein levels, displaying pre-pathological features such as lipid accumulation in the liver.
The researchers said their findings demonstrate a non-adapted flora can cause a disease state by shifting the gastrointestinal tract and liver outside a sustainable ecological equilibrium.
The study is detailed in the online edition of the journal Molecular Systems Biology.
