The Gut Microbiome MedChem

dietary supplement

- Natural product or substance given outside of the diet.

- Regulated by the FDA, but not for efficacy

- also tract record of bad actors in this space doping in dangerous drugs

prebiotic

Food ingredients that induce growth of beneficial bacteria, usually a form of dietary fiber

probiotic=

- A strain of beneficial bacteria that has a defined health benefit in the host.

- Also found in diet, e.g. fermented foods like yogurt.

- Examples: Lactobacillus spp., Bifidobacterium spp

mircobiome

- A community of microorganisms living within an environment.

- The human gut microbiome is primarily bacteria.

microbiomes within the body

• Skin

• Oral

• Gut/GI

• Vaginal

• Urogenital

• Lung

no

Are blood, brain, and amniotic sacs microbiomes in the body?

prebiotics

-Examples of these polysaccharides or oligosaccharides:

• Trans-galactooligosaccharide

• Inulin

• Starch

• Pectin

• β-glucans

• Xylooligosaccharides

-short fatty acid chains

-complex polysaccharides

healthy microbiome

provides proper digestion, colonization resistance, and many other roles

Irinotecan

-is a prodrug, the active metabolite is processed by the liver

-After excretion into the lumen, microbes reduce back to the active metabolite

gut

What is the largest microbiome in humans?

Anoxic, reductive, that reductive environment can lead to:

-Reductive activation of drugs e.g. N-N double bonds.

-Reductive detoxification of nitrates

-Reductive toxification (e.g. cleavage of sugar from irinotecan end product)

What is the gut environment like for drugs? Role of the microbiome?

Your gut microbiome is essential to health, it helps you digest food, it resists colonization by pathogens

What was the key result of first germ-free experiments?

Prebiotics feed gut microbes, a healthy diet has diverse sources of fiber, a healthy gut microbiome had diverse bacterial members

Why is diet so important?

prebiotic examples

starch or pectin

no

Are germ free organisms healthy?

Immigration study

- Your environment has an impact on your microbiome.

- More time in the US, microbiome less like home country.

- Effect observed both temporally and generationally.

- Linked with increased risk for diseases like obesity.

- A diverse gut microbiome is linked to health, a diverse microbiome is linked to a healthy diet. Important note: The American diet is not healthy!