Non-invasive Telemetric Assessment of Gut Microbiota Activity in Situ

Different regions of the human GI tract exhibit different chemical environments and different digestion metabolites. As a result, these regions support different microorganisms, with gradients in metabolic products along the length of the GI tract. Single-point measurements of microbiome metabolites (e.g. in feces) are insufficient to provide detailed information of physiological status because there can be large variations in an individual’s GI transport speed, absorption, and hydration. Furthermore, absorption and consumption of metabolites, for example, short chain fatty acids (SFCAs) can occur during digestion, and therefore make it difficult to correlate the measured values back to the real concentration experienced by the gut during protein and carbohydrate metabolism. Ideally, in situ measurements of the chemical environment and microbiome metabolites, along with the GI tract, would provide sufficient details to assess overall individual health, and may indicate changes in diet and/or environment that would have beneficial or detrimental effects on health and performance results. Nanohmics Inc., in partnership with the Department of Medical Physiology at the Texas A&M Health Science Center (TAM-HSC), has been developing a novel ingestible telemetry capsule that will measure in situ environmental conditions and metabolic products in an individual’s GI tract.