Pharmabiotic

The term pharmabiotic(1)(2) was devised by Professor Fergus Shanahan, Director of the Alimentary Pharmabiotic Centre (3)(4)(5)(6) based at University College Cork (7) to represent anything, including microbes or molecules that may be harnessed from the gut ecosystem for a health benefit. Pharmabiotic encompasses any therapeutic exploitation of the commensal flora including the use of whole organisms probiotics, food ingredients that influence the composition of the flora prebiotics, combinations thereof synbiotics, dead or live organisms, genetically modified commensal bacteria or biologically active bacterial metabolites. In that respect, the lumen of the digestive tract, which is the most densely populated ecosystem on earth, is a living inner biomass, a rich repository of metabolic signals that can be mined for the next generation of anti-microbials and anti-inflammatories.

References

(1) Shanahan,F. 2005 “Physiological Basis for Novel Drug Therapies Used to Treat the Inflammatory Bowel Diseases 1. Pathophysiological basis and prospects for probiotic therapy in inflammatory bowel disease” Am J. Physiol. Gastrointest. Liver Physiol 288; G417-G421

(2) O'Hara, A.M. and Shanahan, F. 2006 "The gut flora as a forgotten organ" EMBO Rp2004 July 7(7); 688-693

(3) Sheehy Skeffington, T 2003 “Gut Reaction” The Irish Examiner 13 June 2003

(4) O’Riordan, S. 2003 “Research centre seeks cures for gastrointestinal diseases” The Irish Examiner 14 November 2003

(5) Ahlstrom, D. 2003 “Bugs that cause gut feelings” The Irish Times 20 November 2003

(6) http://apc.ucc.ie Alimentary Pharmabiotic Centre

(7) http://www.ucc.ie University College Cork