Mode of Action of Butyrate in the Human Colon

Butyrate has recently gained attention as an important microbial compound in human colon health. Several diseases, including Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), have been linked with a loss of butyrate in the colon resulting in the hypothesis that butyrate is important for disease resistance. However, despite a plethora of preclinical evidence about butyrate's role in colon health, data from human studies are insufficient, largely due to the lack of available tools for colon-specific butyrate delivery and sampling. This project will elucidate butyrate's mode of action in the human colon and its implications for gut functioning in IBS and healthy participants by employing a unique in vivo human setting. Specifically, the regulatory capacity of butyrate on intestinal barrier function and the transcriptional host responses that are associated with an increase of butyrate in the colon will be determined. Moreover, butyrate's role as a signalling molecule for gut hormones and serotonin release will be studied.