A treatment method that seems rather distasteful at first glance could offer hope for intestinal diseases. Using stool bacteria pressed into a capsule, a Swiss research team wants to rebuild the badly damaged intestinal flora.
Until now, a so-called stool transplant was necessary in patients with severely damaged intestinal flora after infection with the bacterium Clostridium difficile, the University of Geneva (Unige) announced on Tuesday. A donor’s intestinal contents, which contain healthy bacteria, are transplanted into the damaged intestine.
The processed stool is then given to the recipient through a nasogastric tube, as a rectal enema, or through a colonoscopy. There are also capsules for oral use, but because of their size (8.2 mm wide and 23.3 mm long) and their dosage (30 to 40 capsules over two days), their use is also very demanding.
Pressed into brownish pellets
Researchers at the University of Geneva, in collaboration with the University Hospital of Lausanne (Chuv), have now developed a new, simpler technology. “Our technique makes it possible to encapsulate the live microorganisms in the donor’s stool in small spheres of about two millimeters that are ingested orally,” explained lead author Adèle Rakotonirina in the statement from the University of Geneva.
Technology has yet to be clinically tested
“These brownish globules are easy to disperse in a liquid or a pleasant edible food. You have no taste. So they can make treatment a lot easier, especially for children,” says study leader Eric Allémann of the University of Geneva.
However, the new technology is not yet ready for use and must first be clinically tested. It was presented to the professional world in the “International Journal of Pharmaceutics”.
Source: Krone
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