Personalized drug delivery use an intelligent capsule
technology to characterize gut bacteria
A new non-invasive method to test the effects of
functional foods and nutrients on the gut flora promises to help industry build
solid evidence for health claims substantiation.
he Dutch research organization has joined forces with
biotech firm Medimetrics to develop a new way to analyze gut physiology using
micro-electronic capsules. Using their intelligent capsule technology, the
firms suggest that it will be possible to take samples in vivo, at targeted
locations, in a non-invasive way, away from a clinical research setting.
The IntelliCap system produced by Medimetrics is an
orally administered, wirelessly controlled, electronic capsule system that was
pioneered for the targeted delivery of drugs. Working with NIZO, the firm has
now developed the technology to be able to take samples from the small
intestine - thus offering promise in the substantiation of health claims
related to functional foods in the gut.
“Food scientists wanting to develop functional foods
immediately see the potential of the IntelliCap technology in enabling them to
apply it as a novel tool to characterize the gut microbiome," said
Christoph Wanke, clinical program leader at Medimetrics. Harro Timmerman,
principal scientist at NIZO added that the new system is a ‘revolutionary tool’
that can assess the way food and probiotics affect the composition of the
microbiota of healthy individuals. "We can better decipher the mechanisms
which influence gut health, host metabolism and immunity," he said. "We
may even access new markers which enable us to substantiate claims regarding
the health properties of certain foods.”
The scientific collaboration between NIZO and
Medimetrics (which spun out from mother firm Phillips in 2011) has enabled the
capsule to be adapted to ‘freeze’ each sample as it is taken, avoiding
deterioration. NIZO say this guarantees sample stability through its journey in
the intestines, and right up to the point of analysis. The remotely controlled
capsule also measures its transit time, pH levels and temperature. The new technology
offers a non-invasive means of sampling and mapping content from the small
intestine to identify its microbiological composition. NIZO suggested that the
process will provide novel insights into how certain foods and ingredients
might react in our gut and so affect health. In the coming year, the two firms
will carry out extensive studies to explore and validate the technology before making
it available to the food industry.
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