Classical methods and perspectives for manipulating the human gut microbial ecosystem

Abstract

A healthy Human Gut Microbial Ecosystem (HGME) is a necessary condition for maintaining the orderly function of the whole body. Major alterations in the normal gut microbial composition, activity and functionality (dysbiosis) by an environmental or host-related disruptive event, can compromise metabolic, inflammatory, and neurological processes, causing disorders such as obesity, inflammatory bowel disease, colorectal cancer, and depressive episodes. The restore or the maintaining of the homeostatic balance of Gut Microbiota (GM) populations (eubiosis) is possible through diet, the use of probiotics, prebiotics, antibiotics, and even Fecal Microbiota Transplantation (FMT). Although these “classic methods” represent an effective and accepted way to modulate GM, the complexity of HGME requires new approaches to control it in a more appropriate way. Among the most promising emergent strategies for modulating GM are the use of engineered nanomaterials (metallic nanoparticles (NP), polymeric-NP, quantum dots, micelles, dendrimers, and liposomes); phagotherapy (i.e., phages linked with the CRISPR/Cas9 system), and the use of antimicrobial peptides, non-antibiotic drugs, vaccines, and immunoglobulins. Here we review the current state of development, implications, advantages, disadvantages, and perspectives of the different approaches for manipulating HGME.

Keywords:

• Dysbiosis
• eubiosis
• gut microbiota
• microbiota modulation
• nanotechnology engineering

Acknowledgement

The authors thank CIATEJ for the support of this study, and Dalia Ramirez for kindly English proofreading.

Declaration of interest

The authors report no declarations of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (CONACYT) Graduate Research Program (449540 to J.A.J.-A.), and the CONACYT-SINANOTOX PN-2017-01-4710 Grant.