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From-Toilet-to-Freezer: A Review on Requirements for an Automatic Protocol to Collect and Store Human Fecal Samples for Research Purposes

The composition, viability and metabolic functionality of intestinal microbiota play an important role in human health and disease. Studies on intestinal microbiota are often based on fecal samples, because these can be sampled in a non-invasive way, although procedures for sampling, processing and...

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Autores principales: Widjaja, Frances, Rietjens, Ivonne M. C. M.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10603957/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37893032
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/biomedicines11102658
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author Widjaja, Frances
Rietjens, Ivonne M. C. M.
author_facet Widjaja, Frances
Rietjens, Ivonne M. C. M.
author_sort Widjaja, Frances
collection PubMed
description The composition, viability and metabolic functionality of intestinal microbiota play an important role in human health and disease. Studies on intestinal microbiota are often based on fecal samples, because these can be sampled in a non-invasive way, although procedures for sampling, processing and storage vary. This review presents factors to consider when developing an automated protocol for sampling, processing and storing fecal samples: donor inclusion criteria, urine–feces separation in smart toilets, homogenization, aliquoting, usage or type of buffer to dissolve and store fecal material, temperature and time for processing and storage and quality control. The lack of standardization and low-throughput of state-of-the-art fecal collection procedures promote a more automated protocol. Based on this review, an automated protocol is proposed. Fecal samples should be collected and immediately processed under anaerobic conditions at either room temperature (RT) for a maximum of 4 h or at 4 °C for no more than 24 h. Upon homogenization, preferably in the absence of added solvent to allow addition of a buffer of choice at a later stage, aliquots obtained should be stored at either −20 °C for up to a few months or −80 °C for a longer period—up to 2 years. Protocols for quality control should characterize microbial composition and viability as well as metabolic functionality.
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spelling pubmed-106039572023-10-28 From-Toilet-to-Freezer: A Review on Requirements for an Automatic Protocol to Collect and Store Human Fecal Samples for Research Purposes Widjaja, Frances Rietjens, Ivonne M. C. M. Biomedicines Review The composition, viability and metabolic functionality of intestinal microbiota play an important role in human health and disease. Studies on intestinal microbiota are often based on fecal samples, because these can be sampled in a non-invasive way, although procedures for sampling, processing and storage vary. This review presents factors to consider when developing an automated protocol for sampling, processing and storing fecal samples: donor inclusion criteria, urine–feces separation in smart toilets, homogenization, aliquoting, usage or type of buffer to dissolve and store fecal material, temperature and time for processing and storage and quality control. The lack of standardization and low-throughput of state-of-the-art fecal collection procedures promote a more automated protocol. Based on this review, an automated protocol is proposed. Fecal samples should be collected and immediately processed under anaerobic conditions at either room temperature (RT) for a maximum of 4 h or at 4 °C for no more than 24 h. Upon homogenization, preferably in the absence of added solvent to allow addition of a buffer of choice at a later stage, aliquots obtained should be stored at either −20 °C for up to a few months or −80 °C for a longer period—up to 2 years. Protocols for quality control should characterize microbial composition and viability as well as metabolic functionality. MDPI 2023-09-28 /pmc/articles/PMC10603957/ /pubmed/37893032 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/biomedicines11102658 Text en © 2023 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Review
Widjaja, Frances
Rietjens, Ivonne M. C. M.
From-Toilet-to-Freezer: A Review on Requirements for an Automatic Protocol to Collect and Store Human Fecal Samples for Research Purposes
title From-Toilet-to-Freezer: A Review on Requirements for an Automatic Protocol to Collect and Store Human Fecal Samples for Research Purposes
title_full From-Toilet-to-Freezer: A Review on Requirements for an Automatic Protocol to Collect and Store Human Fecal Samples for Research Purposes
title_fullStr From-Toilet-to-Freezer: A Review on Requirements for an Automatic Protocol to Collect and Store Human Fecal Samples for Research Purposes
title_full_unstemmed From-Toilet-to-Freezer: A Review on Requirements for an Automatic Protocol to Collect and Store Human Fecal Samples for Research Purposes
title_short From-Toilet-to-Freezer: A Review on Requirements for an Automatic Protocol to Collect and Store Human Fecal Samples for Research Purposes
title_sort from-toilet-to-freezer: a review on requirements for an automatic protocol to collect and store human fecal samples for research purposes
topic Review
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10603957/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37893032
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/biomedicines11102658
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