Sulpiride Serves, a Substrate for the Gut Microbiome

In the contemporary research world, the intestinal microbiome is now envisioned as a new body organ. Recently, the gut microbiome represents a new drug target in the gut, since various orthologues of intestinal drug transporters are also found present in the microbiome that lines the small intestine of the host. Owing to this, absorbance of sulpiride by the gut microbiome in an in vivo albino rats model was assessed after the oral administration with a single dose of 20mg/kg b.w. The rats were subsequently sacrificed at 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 hours post oral administration to collect the gut microbial mass pellet. The drug absorbance by the gut microbiome was determined by pursuing the microbial lysate through RP-HPLC-UV. Total absorbance of sulpiride by the whole gut microbiome and drug absorbance per milligram of microbial pellet were found significantly higher at 4 hours post-administration as compared to all other groups. These results affirm the hypothesis that the structural homology between membrane transporters of the gut microbiome and intestinal epithelium of the host might play an important role in drug absorbance by gut microbes in an in vivo condition.