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In a mouse model of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, animals that had ample levels the bacterium Akkermansia muciniphila in their gut microbiomes fared better than those carrying almost no members of the species, which produces vitamin B3, according to a study published this week (July 22) in Nature. Moreover, restoring A. muciniphila in mice that had low levels slowed the progression of their disease.
“When we gave it to ALS-prone mice it very significantly improved ALS severity in these mice,” coauthor Eran Elinav, a microbiome researcher at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel and of the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg, tells The Guardian. On the other hand, two other members of the microbiome—Ruminococcus torques and Parabacteroides distasonis—were more common in mice with severe disease.
The researchers suspect that A. muciniphila’s production of B3 may have something to do with its apparently therapeutic effects. ...
