Transferring IBS (and other diseases… and health) Via Fecal Microbiota Transplant

I spent some time this week filing papers and abstracts that I’ve collected over the last few months and came across several that I am surprised I didn’t share with you at the time.  (Then again, there are only so many hours in the day….or, as I say to my sons, “there’s only 1 Mommy.”

So I’ll spend some time the next few weeks catching you up on some great research that slipped through the cracks.

Back in March, 2017[i]:

Postulating that IBS, which is often accompanied by anxiety, may be the result of alterations to the bacterial microbiome, researchers transplanted fecal microbiota from human  into germ free mice, the controls receiving the transplant from healthy individuals, the variable group, from patients with IBS with diarrhea (IBS-D).  The mice that received the IBS-D microbiota developed different serum (blood) metabolomics profiles, and “…exhibited faster gastrointestinal transit, intestinal barrier dysfunction, innate immune activation, and anxiety-like behavior.”  That is:  they developed diarrhea, leaky gut, inflammation and anxiety.

By the way, scientists have already demonstrated in multiple studies that you can transfer depression via fecal transplant.  For example, in 2016, researchers transferred fecal microbiota from depressed people into rats and found that it, “…can induce behavioral and physiological features characteristic of depression in the recipient animals…”[ii]

The medical literature is rife with articles about using FMT to treat everything from IBD to obesity.  Yet, as of today, the FDA only permits it to be performed for chronic c.diff infection.  I am very much looking forward to the day common sense returns to the medical establishment and that fecal transplant becomes basic medical procedure, easily available to anyone who might benefit.

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[i] De Palma, G, et. al.  Transplantation of fecal microbiota from patients with irritable bowel syndrome alters gut function and behavior in recipient mice.  Science Translational Medicine. 2017 Mar 1;9(379). pii: eaaf6397. doi: 10.1126/scitranslmed.aaf6397

[ii] Kelly, JR, et. al. Transferring the blues: depression-associated gut microbiota induces neurobehavioral changes in the rat.  Journal of Psychiatric Research. 2016. 82:109-118.