IBS tagged posts

Scientists at McMaster University have identified new biomarkers for Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) in urine, which could lead to better treatments and reduce the need for costly and invasive colonoscopy procedures currently used for diagnosis.

Little is known about the causes of IBS, a chronic and often debilitating gastrointestinal disorder which affects hundreds of thousands of Canadians in which diagnosis is complicated, patients experience a vast spectrum of symptoms and treatment options are limited.

“Diagnostic testing for IBS involves a long process of excluding other related gut disorders, such as inflammatory bowel disease,” explains Philip Britz-McKibbin, lead author of the study and a professor in McMaster’s Depa...

Highlights
•Enterochromaffin (EC) cells are excitable and express voltage-gated ion channels
•EC cells use sensory receptors to detect irritants, metabolites, and catecholamines
•EC cell activation leads to voltage-gated Ca2+ channel-dependent serotonin release
•EC cells modulate sensory nerves via serotonin receptors and synaptic connections

Cells that alert nervous system to intestinal trouble could provide new target for gastrointestinal treatments. Specialized cells in the gut sense potentially noxious chemicals and trigger electrical impulses in nearby nerve fibers, according to a new study led by UC San Francisco scientists. “These cells are sensors, like a window looking into the contents of the gut,” said James Bayrer, MD, PhD, an assistant professor of pediatrics at UCSF.

Usin...

Differences in gut microbial composition correlate with regional brain volumes in irritable bowel syndrome. Microbiome, 2017; 5 (1) DOI: 10.1186/s40168-017-0260-z

A new study at UCLA has revealed 2 key findings for people with irritable bowel syndrome about the relationship between the microorganisms that live in the gut and the brain. For people with IBS research shows for the first time that there is an association between the gut microbiota and the brain regions involved in the processing of sensory information from their bodies. The results suggest that signals generated by the brain can influence the composition of microbes residing in the intestine and that the chemicals in the gut can shape the human brain’s structure.

Additionally, they gained insight into the connections among chi...

Credit: Martha Sexton/public domain

A team with University of California has found that introducing a type of antimicrobial protein called a microcin into the guts of mice with inflamed bowels caused a reduction in the degree of inflammation. The team describes their study of the use of the protein in mice and their evidence that microcins intercede in the relationship between different types of bacteria in the gut.

Over the past several decades, scientists have made a lot of progress in better understanding the factors that lead to irritable bowel syndrome, IBS, which covers a host of gut ailments, from Crohn’s disease to colitis. Most of them, they believe, are due to harmful gut bacteria multiplying and pushing out beneficial bacteria...