Chapter category: Gastroenterology
Effects of Microbiota on Gi Health: Gnotobiotic Research
GI Microbiota and Regulation
of the Immune System
Edited by: Gary B. Huffnagle and Mairi C. NoverrISBN: 978-0-387-79989-6
» Get more information about this book at landesbioscience.com «
Chapter authors:
Doug Wagner
The complex interactions between the GI tract microbiota and the immune system can be simplified for study using gnotobiotic animal models. The importance of cytokines, such as IFN-γ, TNF-α, TGF-β, Interleukin-2, IL-4 and IL-10 in the host response to intestinal bacteria has been evaluated using gnotobiotic studies. Gnotobiotic experiments with immunodeficient animals have revealed insights into the relationships between innate, cell-mediated and antibody-mediated immune system components in resistance to infectious microorganisms. The development and maturation of the immune system is dependent on the presence of some members of the intestinal microbiota. The commensal microorganisms, in turn, are dependent on the environment and nutrients provided by the GI tract of the host. Gnotobiotic studies are starting to reveal how the microbiota influences oral tolerance to dietary and commensal bacterial antigens. The immunomodulatory effects of microbiota and probiotics for inflammatory bowel diseases and the role of bacteria in their etiologies are being studied in gnotobiotic systems. Many aspects of the host interaction with the microbiota have been and will continue to be best addressed in gnotobiotic experimental models. This chapter reviews the contributions that gnotobiology has made to our understanding of the microbiota and host GI tract health.
Doug Wagner
NIH/NIMH
Additional chapters from this book:
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The “Microflora Hypothesis” of Allergic Disease
Andrew Shreiner, Gary B. Huffnagle and Mairi C. Noverr
Predisposition to allergic disease is a complex function of an individual’s genetic background and, as is the case with multi-gene traits, environmental factors have important phenotypic consequences....
Overview of Gut Immunology
Katie Lynn Mason, Gary B. Huffnagle, Mairi C. Noverr and John Y. Kao
The gastrointestinal tract (GI tract) plays dual roles in human physiology: digestion and uptake of nutrients and the more daunting task of maintaining immune homeostasis (protecting the body from pot...
Effects of Microbiota on Gi Health: Gnotobiotic Research
Doug Wagner
The complex interactions between the GI tract microbiota and the immune system can be simplified for study using gnotobiotic animal models. The importance of cytokines, such as IFN-γ, TNF-α,...
Overview of the Gastrointestinal Microbiota
Vincent B. Young and Thomas M. Schmidt
The community of microbes that inhabits the mammalian intestinal tract exists in a symbiosis with their host. The structure of this community represents the combined effects of selection pressure on t...
The Commensal Microbiology of the Gastrointestinal Tract
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Functional foods (specific nutrient and/or food components) should beneficially affect one or more target functions in the body. The use of functional foods as a form of preventive medicine has been t...
Host‑Microbe Symbiosis: The Squid‑Vibrio Association‑A Naturally Occurring, Experimental Model of Animal/Bacterial Partnerships
Margaret McFall-Ngai
Many, if not most, animals have specific symbiotic relationships with bacterial partners. Recent studies suggest that vertebrates create alliances with highly complex consortia of hundreds to thousand...
Host‑Microbe Communication within the GI Tract
Christopher A. Allen and Alfredo G. Torres
The gastrointestinal tract is a biologically diverse and complicated system which carries out essential physiological functions that support human health, while at the same time maintaining itself as ...
Positive Interactions with the Microbiota: Probiotics
Marko Kalliomäki, Seppo Salminen and Erika Isolauri
Rigorous research in the field of probiotics is a fairly new phenomenon although first reports about beneficial effects of specific gut bacteria on human health originated already a century ago. A pre...
The Damage‑Response Framework of Microbial Pathogenesis and Infectious Diseases
Liise-anne Pirofski and Arturo Casadevall
Historical and most currently held views of microbial pathogenesis and virulence are plagued by confusing and imprecise terminology and definitions that require revision and exceptions to accommodate ...
