What is the expectation when in comes to microbial transmission from the oral cavity to the gut?
I would think not much gets through because of the stomach barrier. Is that a common expectation? I'm finding it hard to get literature on this.
Thanks!
Yes, physiologically what you say may be true. But fecal microbiota transplantation is coming up as treatment of inflammatory bowel disease and capsule form of intestinal microbiota may be taken orally for treatment in near future.
It might depend on how old you are. Bacteria are found in human milk and around the breast during feeding, for example, and they do shape the gut community. At ~3 years old the gut is of an adult form which may be when the interplay between the gut microbiome and the immune system etc. come to the fore.
This may be of interest: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4350424/
Best, Mark
Thanks Mark. I realize that in infancy, the transmission may be considerable, as the oral community is "seeding" the gut. However, given that the overlap in the mature human (between oral and stool) in terms of species is minor, i expect this seeding to not mean that much.
Generally, i don't expect a lot of the oral microbes to be viable gut colonizers. I'm just trying to make sure this is a valid assumption.
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