Fecal Transplants May Become New Way To Reverse Hallmarks Of Ageing

Aug, 2022 - By SMI

Researchers demonstrated how gut bacteria influences inflammation to promote aging in the brain, gut and eyes by performing fecal transplant between old and young mice

Various studies explored the link between gut bacteria and human health in past years. Making an addition to these studies, a team of scientists at Quadram Institute and University of East Anglia, demonstrated how fecal transplants in young and adult mice reversed signs of aging in guts, eyes and the brain of mice. The findings of this study showed how gut microbes are also responsible for regulating some of the harmful effects of ageing, opening up possibilities for treatments based on gut microbes to tackle this decline.

In a study published last year in Nature Aging, researchers found convincing evidence of gut bacteria affecting the brain, where researchers focused particularly on brain aging and demonstrated transplantation of fecal matter in old mice from young mice reversed some parts of age-related brain deterioration. In the new study, the scientists from Quadram Institute and University of East Anglia found new aspects of effects of gut bacteria on the brain health. In this study, the team transplanted fecal matter into older mice from healthy and young mice and simultaneously also performed reverse transplantation in mice; and further analyzed the range of inflammatory biomarkers in the animal bodies.

Furthermore, the researchers observed that after these transplant experiments, the young mice lost integrity in gut lining due to which bacterial products passed through and circulated in the body. This activated the immune system and inflammation, which caused over-activation of specific immune cell in the brain and increased levels of proteins related to degeneration of retina in the eyes. In opposition, all these markers were reversed in older mice after the implantation of fecal matter from younger mice, which also increased levels of good bacteria that are known to be linked to good health in mice as well as in humans. However, the study requires more work to interpret the same results in humans by conducting human clinical trials.