Human gut microbiota and uremic toxins

Indole and p-cresole are toxic metabolites, also referred to as uremic toxins, that are eliminated by healthy kidneys via the urine and, in case of renal disease, are related to many complications. Little is known about differences of gut microbial populations in the ability to produce and degrade uremic toxins, in this work the efficiency of transformation of the precursors tryptophan and tyrosine into indole and p-cresol, and of the degradation of these uremic toxins was compared in fecal cultures inoculated with different intestinal populations provided by healthy subjects.