- Considerable progress has been made with respect to modelling the pathways and fluxes operative in the collective microbiota. The 16S rRNA-based stable isotope probing analyses indicate that certain species in the microbiota specifically ferment the 13C-labeled substrates and hint at a phenomenon of cross-fertilisation between these species
- Analyses of a clinical study with butyrate enemas in healthy volunteers have indicated that butyrate increased the anti-oxidant potential of the epithelium in terms of increased presence of glutathione (GSH) and uric acid in biopsies from the rectal area of the GI tract. This research has been awarded the Foppe ten Hoor-award.
- In a similar study, the effect of butyrate on pain-perception was studied. The results showed a significant decrease in pain-perception after the butyrate intervention.
- In studying the health effect of the microbially produced metabolites on adipocyte tissue (ex vivo), propionate was shown to decrease resistin, and increase leptin production, two hormones related to obesity. Interestingly, the magnitude of the effect seemed to be correlated with the body-mass-index (BMI), in a way that the more obese the volunteers from which the adipocytes were obtained, the greater the decrease of resistin, and the higher the increase of leptin, although the number of individuals studied was still low. This points towards a beneficial effect of propionate in the system (as opposed to local effects in the GI tract).