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Updated: Jun 4, 2026

An Intestinal Gut Organ Culture System for Analyzing Host-Microbiota Interactions
Published on: June 30, 2021
In remembrance of commensal intestinal microbes
Siegfried Hapfelmeier1, Andrew J Macpherson
1DKF Maurice Mueller Laboratories; UVCM Inselspital; University of Bern; Switzerland.
Abstract:
Mammals contain an enormous load of commensal microbes in the lower intestine, which induce adaptive responses in the host immune system that ensure mutual coexistence of the host and its microbial passengers. The main way of studying how the host responds to commensal colonization has been to compare animals kept in entirely germ-free conditions and their colonized counterparts. We present an overview of our development of a reversible colonization system, whereby germ free animals can be treated with live commensal bacteria that do not persist in the host, so it becomes germ free again. We describe how this system has been used to demonstrate that there is little or no immune memory for specific IgA induction in the intestinal mucosal immune system by commensal intestinal bacteria.
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