Probiotics and inflammatory bowel diseases

Abstract Intestinal microbiota is composed by symbiotic innocuous bacteria and potential pathogens also called pathobionts. Even if the mechanism of action of intestinal bacteria remain still unknown, specific microbial species seem to have important role in the maintenance of immunological equilibrium in the gut through the direct interaction with immune cells. Some studies have found a dysregulated interaction between the intestinal bacteria, the gut barrier, and the intestinal associated immune system in Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) patients and in the pathogenesis of these pathologies. In IBD patients some Butyrate producing bacteria, as Faecalibacterium Prausnitzii, are under represented and this could be related with their chronic inflammatory state.