Fecal Transfer
QUESTION
Module 3 Discussion Board
Background information
In this discussion board, we will continue to analyze the journal article “You are what you eat…at least, your brain is?”. Review the different sections of a journal article below:
• Title: short statement that describes the question being answered
• Abstract: summary of the article
• Introduction: introduces the article and contains current information on what is known about the topic, which will lead to further explanation of the researcher’s question
• Methods: how the study was performed
• Results: data from the study – usually includes tables and graphs
• Discussion/Conclusion: interprets the results relating to the original question
• References: list of literary sources used in the article
Instructions
Part 1: Initial post (60 points)
Your initial post (response) will contain three parts which are explained below. Please be sure to number each part in your post.
1) Go to the website “Science in the Classroom” and pull up the article “You are what you eat…at least, your brain is.”: https://www.scienceintheclassroom.org/research-papers/you-are-what-you-eatat-least-your-brain (opens in new window). For this assignment, you will focus only on the introduction and methods (these can be found in the “report” section – some of the methods are found at the end of the article).
• On the left side of the website, you will see a gray box titled “learning lens.” Click on the yellow box beside “glossary” (a check will appear). This will highlight specific terms in yellow.
• List and define FIVE terms you struggled with that are highlighted in the report (there are more than five terms highlighted – you get to pick five).
2) Read the the introduction for this article (this is the first section in Reports).
• What were three things that you learned in this introduction?
• What is the question the scientist is hoping to answer with this experiment?
3) On the left side of the website, you will see a gray box titled “learning lens.” Click on the blue box beside “author’s experiments” (a check will appear). This will highlight the methods of the report. Read through these. If you have trouble understanding any of these highlighted methods, hover over it with your mouse to get more information.
• In your own words, summarize the methods (what is the experiment?). If you are struggling understanding any of this information, please reach out to me. Your summary needs to be at least 100 words in length.
Part 2: Responses (40 points)
You will reply to two classmates’ initial posts.
• For your replies, you will comment on your classmates’ methods summary and compare it to yours. Were your summaries similar? Did you interpret anything differently? What information did you struggle with? Did your classmate explain something really well?
• Your replies should be at least 75 words each.
Fecal Transfer
ANSWER
Definition of Terms; you are what you eat
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Definition of terms
Fecal Transfer is the process of doing a fecal material transfer from one organism’s digestive tract to another. It is basically the transfer of the gut flora from one experimental mouse into the digestive tract of another (Le Roy et al., 2019).
Germ-free mice; are experimental mice that are not allowed microorganisms within their digestive tract. They are delivered through the cesarean section to eliminate exposure to germs from the mother. The mice are raised in an incubator with close study to their exposure to germs.
Gut flora; is the microorganisms that populate the walls of the intestines. It is the inner population of microorganisms and includes gut bacteria (Zhang et al., 2019).
Brain parenchyma; These are the neurons and the support cells which exist within the brain tissues.
Gut microbiota; is the collective name given to the group of microorganisms within the guts of an animal digestive tract. They are quite many, usually in trillions consisting of fungi, bacteria, and pathogens (Derrien et al., 2019). They are significant in the shaping of the body’s immune system and its nutrition, additionally, they influence brain development and individual behavior.
Three things learned from the Introduction
That the gut microbiota is responsible for the majority of the biological functioning within our bodies including metabolism, immune system, and the CNS. The role of microbiota also impacts the brain activities such as its physiology, synaptogenesis, and neurotransmitter regulations (Braniste et al., 2014). I also learned that the CNS develops with the formation of the intact blood-brain barrier to ensure the creation of the ideal microenvironment for the development of neurons. The tight junction proteins are also essential since they ensure restricted paracellular water-soluble substance diffusion from the individual blood to their brains (Xu et al., 2019). The main question the scientists hope to answer here is about what effects intestinal microbiota have on the BBB permeability in the brains of fetal mice and adult mice.
Summary of the methods
The experiment first did a characterization of the permeability of mouse embryos BBB using mothers who were free from pathogens. This was achieved through the administration of infrared labeled type of immunoglobin G2b(IgG2b) type of antibody. They applied three techniques t establish the extent of BBB permeability in the adult mice who did not expose to any germ. Generated harmonic signals were used to observe the mice’s subdural regions. The main tight junctions proteins expression was assessed. The structure of the tight junction was established using analysis by transmission electron microscopy. The germ-free adults were colonized using flora from the pathogen-free mice. Then the BBB permeability rate was evaluated in the germ-free adult mice.
Reference
Braniste, V., Al-Asmakh, M., Kowal, C., Anuar, F., Abbaspour, A., Tóth, M., Korecka, A., Bakocevic, N., Ng, L. G., Kundu, P., Gulyás, B., Halldin, C., Hultenby, K., Nilsson, H., Hebert, H., Volpe, B. T., Diamond, B., & Pettersson, S. (2014). The gut microbiota influences blood-brain barrier permeability in mice. Science Translational Medicine, 6(263). https://doi.org/10.1126/scitranslmed.3009759
Derrien, M., Alvarez, A.-S., & de Vos, W. M. (2019). The gut microbiota in the first decade of life. Trends in Microbiology, 27(12), 997–1010. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tim.2019.08.001
Le Roy, T., Debédat, J., Marquet, F., Da-Cunha, C., Ichou, F., Guerre-Millo, M., Kapel, N., Aron-Wisnewsky, J., & Clément, K. (2019). Comparative evaluation of microbiota engraftment following fecal microbiota transfer in mice models: Age, kinetic and Microbial Status matter. Frontiers in Microbiology, 9. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2018.03289
Xu, H., Liu, Y., Wang, D., & Zhang, Z. (2019). Shenmai injection maintains blood-brain barrier integrity following focal cerebral ischemia via modulating the expression and trafficking of occludin in lipid rafts. Journal of Ethnopharmacology, 237, 55–63. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jep.2019.03.034
Zhang, C., Gong, W., Li, Z., Gao, D., & Gao, Y. (2019). Research progress of Gut Flora in improving human wellness. Food Science and Human Wellness, 8(2), 102–105. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fshw.2019.03.007