24/01/2012

The project Human Genome sequenced the genetic information contained in 10% of the cells that form the human body. The remaining 90% aren't human cells but an authentic ecosystem of approximately hundred trillions of bacteria living in our body. They receive the name of microbioma, and science is disclosing every day new findings that show how fundamental they are for our survival. As explains Dr. Francisco Guarner, from the digestive Physiology and Physiopathology group at Vall d'Hebron Research Institute (VHIR), "the microbioma is already considered an organ in itself". The alterations that take place in this population of microorganisms have serious consequences for the health, in fact they influence up to such a point the human body that the conduct and the cerebral development maybe modified. There are studies that prove that animals of laboratory growing in total absence of bacteria have a deficient corporal development, a different and immature brain and its immune system is incomplete. The surprising thing "and one of the reasons that justifies to consider the microbioma an organ", explains Dr. Guarner, "is that if you transplant the flora of normal individuals to these animals, they recover the normality".