Colonic Vitamin Delivery

In recent years, growing evidence shows that the microbes in our body are highly involved in our overall health. Specially, gut microbiota is key to human diseases and health, and nutrition may influ-ence its composition and balance. Recent studies have shown that vitamins delivered to the colonic microbiota may prevent and restore bacterial dysbiosis. In this project, we study the specific delivery of vitamins to the colonic microbiota. We develop peroral formulations that use a polysaccharide car-rier (i.e., xyloglucan) which is specifically degraded in the large intestine by carbohydrate fermenting anaerobic bacteria, triggering only then the release of the active ingredient. Moreover, we are estab-lishing in vitro proximal colon models, based on a defined human gut bacterial consortium, to better understand the dynamics of tablet dissolution and to improve formulation.