Our intestines probably have an influence on Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, as well as depression and stress. With the help of artificial intestines – aka the poo machine – scientists are trying to figure out how that relationship functions in humans and animals.
The laboratory still smells like a sewer even when the poo machine is switched off. When it is switched on, the jars the size of biscuit tins bubble away. They simulate the various parts of the intestines, complete with the associated bacteria. Those microorganisms make up the most influential group populating the intestinal microbiome: the collection of bacteria, fungi, yeasts and viruses. The poo machine, which is actually called SHIME, has been in the lab of Jurriaan Mes, senior Nutrition & Health researcher at Wageningen Food & Biobased Research, for five years now and he has got used to the smell.
The solution of bacteria and food particles in each jar is pumped through to the next jar after a set time. The conditions – the acidity, temperature, presence of certain enzymes and so on – correspond successively to the situation in the stomach, the small intestine and three sections of the large intestine. The artificial intestines are fed from an apparatus that simulates the chewing and digestion of food in the mouth.
Scientists are using the artificial intestines to study how nutrition affects the composition of the organisms inhabiting the gut. That is because it is becoming increasingly clear that this composition in turn influences the development of diseases, recovery and general well-being in humans and animals. It might therefore be possible to boost the health of humans and animals by steering the microbiome in the right direction.
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