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Composition and viability of the microbial flora of the sigmoid colon obtained from embalmed human cadavers
Author(s) -
Fracassi Rebeca Elizabeth,
Holz Jonathan,
Olivieri Marion Pace,
Davie Jeremiah
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.2018.32.1_supplement.534.17
Subject(s) - sigmoid colon , microbiome , biology , bacteria , cadaver , microbiology and biotechnology , pathology , anatomy , physiology , medicine , bioinformatics , rectum , genetics , surgery
The gut microbiome contributes to proper digestion and nutrition. Abnormalities affecting the normal gut physiology can be responsible for disrupting the gut microbiome. Disruptions to the gut microbiome can be the cause of several pathologies. This research sought to determine the efficacy of utilizing cadavers for studying the gut microbiome. Previous studies utilizing DNA from fixed tissues for enzyme based assays, such as PCR were constrained by the chemicals in the fixative that researchers found it was difficult to eliminate these chemicals. The aim of this study was to determine if there were viable bacteria present in the sigmoid colon of embalmed cadavers. If present, these bacteria could be grown and expanded for further molecular based studies. The sigmoid colons of three male cadavers were isolated. The contents of the colon were assayed for the presence of culturable bacteria. Additionally, the sigmoid samples were sectioned for analysis of tissue morphology. These preliminary baseline histological studies suggest that the implemented embalming procedure of normal tissue architecture in the sigmoid colon resulted in elimination of all culturable bacteria. These results further suggest that, if viable bacteria are present, other methods are needed to fully access the presence of bacteria and microbiome in the sigmoid colon of embalmed cadavers. This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2018 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal .