Improved quantitation of short-chain carboxylic acids in human biofluids using 3-nitrophenylhydrazine derivatization and liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS).

Short-chain carboxylic acids (SCCAs) produced by gut microbial fermentation may reflect gastrointestinal health. Their concentrations in serum and urine are indicative of specific metabolic pathway activity; therefore, accurate quantitation of SCCAs in different biofluids is desirable. However, it is often challenging to quantitate SCCAs since matrix effects, induced by the presence of a vast variety of other compounds other than SCCAs in complex biofluids, can suppress or enhance signals.

The Microbiome as a Therapy in Pouchitis and Ulcerative Colitis.

The gut microbiome has been implicated in a range of diseases and there is a rapidly growing understanding of this ecosystem's importance in inflammatory bowel disease. We are yet to identify a single microbe that causes either ulcerative colitis (UC) or pouchitis, however, reduced microbiome diversity is increasingly recognised in active UC. Manipulating the gut microbiome through dietary interventions, prebiotic and probiotic compounds and faecal microbiota transplantation may expand the therapeutic landscape in UC.