Gut Move

Introducing helpful drugs into the body is often challenged by our own defences. Probiotics, beneficial microbes that can help to adjust the balance of our gut microbiome, may not stay around long enough to do their job as they’re quickly corroded by stomach acids and bile. Here, scientists develop structures capable of delivering probiotics orally – but with a new trick. These tiny scaffolds, about the half the size of a polo mint, are 3D-printed from a ‘bio-ink’ of cellulose, a form of dietary fibre. Fibre has many health benefits on its own, but it’s also resistant to damage from stomach acid. Instead, these tiny containers stick to the walls of the gut while they’re slowly digested. As they can be printed in a variety of shapes suited to different applications, they may be just the thing to tackle conditions like obesity or inflammatory bowel disease.

Written by John Ankers

John Ankers

Writer

A former researcher in systems biology, John is now an online biology tutor and professional coach supporting the wellbeing of scientists and NHS professionals. He's writing, too, of course.

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• Image from work by Yue Zhang and colleagues
• Laboratory for Biomaterial and Immunoengineering, Institute of Functional Nano and Soft Materials (FUNSOM), Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu, China
• Image originally published with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)
• Published in Science Advances, August 2024