An Ingestible Self-Polymerizing System for Targeted Sampling of Gut Microbiota and Biomarkers

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Microfluidics
• Gastroenterology

Background:

• Understanding the gut microbiome is crucial for diagnosing and treating gastrointestinal diseases.
• Current methods for gut microbiome sampling can be invasive or lack site-specificity.
• Developing advanced technologies for non-invasive in-situ sampling is essential.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present a proof-of-concept for a self-polymerizing microdevice for targeted gut microbiome sampling.
• To evaluate the efficacy and safety of this novel microsampling system in an animal model.
• To enable high-throughput multiomic analysis of entrapped gut microbiota and biomarkers.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of a hollow microdevice loaded with a self-polymerizing reaction mixture (iron chloride, ascorbic acid, poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate).
• Oral gavage of enteric-coated capsules containing microdevices in a rat model to ensure site-specific release in the intestine.
• In-situ polymerization triggered by aqueous intestinal fluids, entrapping gut microbiota and biomarkers.
• Analysis of entrapped microbial communities using 16s rRNA amplicon sequencing and histological assessment for toxicity.

Main Results:

• Successful entrapment of gut microbiota within the polymerized hydrogel matrix of the microdevices.
• Microbial composition recovered from microdevices closely matched the surrounding gut microenvironment.
• Histological evaluation revealed no signs of local tissue inflammation or toxicity, indicating biocompatibility.
• Demonstrated potential for analyzing protein biomarkers alongside microbial communities.

Conclusions:

• The self-polymerizing microdevice offers a promising non-invasive approach for site-specific gut microbiome sampling.
• This technology facilitates advanced multiomic analyses, enhancing our understanding of host-gut microbiome interactions.
• The findings support the development of untethered microsampling technologies for studying gastrointestinal diseases.