Overview
- Published Jan. 22 in Stem Cell Reports, the study from Ulm University and Cincinnati Children’s links age-related microbiome shifts to reduced intestinal stem cell function in mice.
- Transferring microbiota from young donors into old mice restored stem cell activity and improved regeneration after intestinal injury.
- Restoration coincided with reactivation of Ascl2 and WNT signaling in aged stem cells, and a bacterial species enriched in older microbiota was found to inhibit these pathways.
- Experiments used defined bacterial mixes delivered via fecal microbiota transfer rather than consumer probiotic or prebiotic products.
- Researchers emphasize the results are preclinical in mice and call for human studies to determine safety, dosing, and optimal microbial consortia.