-Randy
Citation:
American Society for Microbiology. "Humans Have Ten Times More Bacteria Than Human Cells: How Do Microbial Communities Affect Human Health?." ScienceDaily 5 June 2008. 10 October 2009
10 October 2009
We are only a fraction of our cells.
Apparently the majority of the cells in the human body are not human. In fact if you were to look at all the cells in my body the majority of them would be bacteria. The human microbe is just recently being investigated thanks to advancing technology such as gene sequencing and researchers are discovering some pretty interesting things. For example some bacteria seem to be host specific; every person could have a unique bacterial “fingerprint”. The human microbe is present all over a person’s body. There are populations in the nose, mouth, skin, urogenital tract, and GI tract. Fluxuations in the bacterial communities of the human gastrointestinal tract could be responsible for IBD.
-Randy
Citation:
American Society for Microbiology. "Humans Have Ten Times More Bacteria Than Human Cells: How Do Microbial Communities Affect Human Health?." ScienceDaily 5 June 2008. 10 October 2009.
-Randy
Citation:
American Society for Microbiology. "Humans Have Ten Times More Bacteria Than Human Cells: How Do Microbial Communities Affect Human Health?." ScienceDaily 5 June 2008. 10 October 2009
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Ok so that's a little creepy!! But very cool evidence of the symbiotic relationship we have with bacteria. My doctor always tells me to eat live culture yogurt when taking a course of antibiotics. I am guessing this is why.
ReplyDeleteYou are right - there does seem to be a potential role of gut flora in the pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel disease. I think it is important to note, however, that that is likely only one part of the story of what's going on. At least one of the current theories is that the combination of environmental factors and maladaptive responses to gastrointestinal flora in a genetically susceptible host leads to a dysregulated immune response and mucosal inflammation and injury. This inflammation leads to intestinal epithelial barrier breakdown and unregulated exposure of the mucosal immune system to luminal antigens, perpetuating the inflammatory cascade. So again, lots going on here. And so much more to learn!
ReplyDelete