PRAGUE, Aug. 9 (Xinhua) -- Czech scientists have found a way how to produce butyrate, a substance which is part of the human intestinal microflora, the research team leader Petr Rysavka announced on Thursday in a press release.
The breakthrough could help patients fight against gut inflammation and other diseases with a lack of butyrate, or improve diabetes care, the release said.
Butyrate is a kind of salt of butyric acid, naturally present in the human gut and produced by intestinal bacteria fermentation. It can repair mucosal lining of the intestines, reduce the absorption of the bowel contents into the mucosa and blood, as well as help to get rid of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD).
Rysavka said that the invented substance will act in the same way as naturally produced butyrate. The success of the butyrate produced by the Czech scientists became possible thanks to the modified-release dosage capsule, which makes it possible to deliver the substance to the required place without being damaged on its way to the target, he added. The special surface finish will also help resist the aggressive digestive juices and stomach pH, thus, butyrate further will be released into the intestine.
According to Rysavka, among the beneficial effects of butyrate on the gut health there are prevention of cancer, appropriate therapy of Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis.
About 40,000 people in the Czech Republic suffer from the IBD, which exact cause still remains unknown for doctors. In 2015, according to the Institute of Health Information and Statistics, 7872 patients in the Czech Republic were diagnosed with colorectal cancer.
