Drug Design, Development and Therapy (Dec 2023)
Co-Housing and Fecal Microbiota Transplantation: Technical Support for TCM Herbal Treatment of Extra-Intestinal Diseases Based on Gut Microbial Ecosystem Remodeling
Abstract
Xian Sun,1 Xi Zhou,1 Weiming He,2 Wei Sun,2 Zheng Xu1 1School of Chinese Medicine & School of Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing, 210023, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Nephrology, Jiangsu Province Hospital of Chinese Medicine, Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing, 210029, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Zheng Xu, School of Chinese Medicine & School of Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing, 210023, People’s Republic of China, Tel +86-15951978958, Email [email protected] Wei Sun, Department of Nephrology, Jiangsu Province Hospital of Chinese Medicine, Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing, 210029, People’s Republic of China, Tel +86-13505199810, Email [email protected]: Dysregulation of the gut microbial ecosystem (GME) (eg, alterations in the gut microbiota, gut-derived metabolites, and gut barrier) may contribute to the onset and progression of extra-intestinal diseases. Previous studies have found that Traditional Chinese Medicine herbs (TCMs) play an important role in manipulating the GME, but a prominent obstacle in current TCM research is the causal relationship between GME and disease amelioration. Encouragingly, co-housing and fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) provide evidence-based support for TCMs to treat extra-intestinal diseases by targeting GME. In this review, we documented the principles, operational procedures, applications and limitations of the key technologies (ie, co-housing and FMT); furthermore, we provided evidence that TCM works through the GME, especially the gut microbiota (eg, SCFA- and BSH-producing bacteria), the gut-derived metabolites (eg, IS, pCS, and SCFAs), and intestinal barrier to alleviate extra-intestinal diseases. This will be beneficial in constructing microecological pathways for TCM treatment of extra-intestinal diseases in the future.Keywords: gut microbial ecosystem, TCM herb, extra-intestinal disease, co-housing, fecal microbiota transplantation
