Microbial Diversity in the Human Gut (IMAGE)
Caption
The four images indicate the degree of microbial diversity in the gut in normal patients as well as in obese patients before and after undergoing two types of weight-loss surgery. The normal human gut has a high degree of microbial diversity, considered important for the maintenance of health. Obese patients have lost much of this diversity and while laparascopic band surgery effectively leads to weight loss, the low microbial diversity condition remains. By contrast, gastric bypass surgery results in the restoration of microbial diversity in the gut, though the composition of microbes is distinct from both normal weight and obese patients.
Credit
Graphic by Jason Drees for the Biodesign Institute
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