Anti-tumour Necrosis Factor Treatment with Adalimumab Induces Changes in the Microbiota of Crohn's Disease.

Background: The composition of the intestinal microbiota is altered in Crohn's disease [CD] patients. The objective of this study was to evaluate the qualitative and quantitative changes in the microbiota of CD patients in 3 months of treatment with adalimumab [ADA], and determine whether or not these changes are produced towards the recovery of the normal, healthy-like microbiota.

Methods: The microbiota composition, and the Faecalibacterium prausnitzii / Escherichia coli quantitative relationship as dysbiosis indicator, were studied at baseline [T0], one month [T1], and 3 months [T3] after starting treatment using a polymerase chain reaction-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis [PCR-DGGE] of 16S rRNA gene fragments and quantitative PCR, respectively, in rectal mucosal biopsies from 15 CD patients and four healthy subjects.

Phosphorus deficiency and kinetics of alkaline phosphatase in isolates and natural populations of phototrophic sulphur bacteria.

Phosphorus deficiency was analysed in the oxic-anoxic gradient of the karstic sulphurous lakes Vilar and Sisó during the stratification period. The distribution of planktonic photosynthetic populations along a vertical gradient coincided with an increase in alkaline phosphatase activity (APA). A multiple stepwise correlation analysis of data yielded a positive correlation of APA with planktonic phototrophic populations.