The Role of Methanogenic Archaea in Inflammatory Bowel Disease—A Review

• Published in: Journal of personalized medicine Vol. 14; no. 2; p. 196
• Main Authors: Cisek, Agata Anna, Szymańska, Edyta, Aleksandrzak-Piekarczyk, Tamara, Cukrowska, Bożena
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 01.02.2024
• Subjects: Age groups; Bacteria; Breastfeeding & lactation; Colon; Comparative analysis; Dysbacteriosis; Fatty acids; Hydrogen; Inflammation; Inflammatory bowel disease; Inflammatory bowel diseases; Intestinal microflora; Intestine; Methanogenic archaea; Methanogenic bacteria; Microbiota; Microbiota (Symbiotic organisms); Microorganisms; Older people; Pathogenesis; Pediatrics; Small intestine; Ulcerative colitis; Poland; Canada; methanogenic archaea; IBD; ulcerative colitis; pediatric diseases; methanogens; inflammatory bowel disease; Crohn’s disease
• ISSN: 2075-4426; 2075-4426
• DOI: 10.3390/jpm14020196

Methanogenic archaea are a part of the commensal gut microbiota responsible for hydrogen sink and the efficient production of short-chain fatty acids. Dysbiosis of methanogens is suspected to play a role in pathogenesis of variety of diseases, including inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Unlike bacteria, the diversity of archaea seems to be higher in IBD patients compared to healthy subjects, whereas the prevalence and abundance of gut methanogens declines in IBD, especially in ulcerative colitis. To date, studies focusing on methanogens in pediatric IBD are very limited; nevertheless, the preliminary results provide some evidence that methanogens may be influenced by the chronic inflammatory process in IBD. In this review, we demonstrated the development and diversity of the methanogenic community in IBD, both in adults and children.