Simulator of the Human Intestinal Microbial Ecosystem (SHIME®): Current Developments, Applications and Future Prospects

• DOI: 10.20944/preprints202410.2612.v1
• Publication Date: 2024-11-01T01:15:18Z
• Authors: Wei Zhu; Xiaoyong Zhang; Dong Wang; Qinghua Yao; Guang-Lei Ma; Xiaohui Fan
• Keywords: 0303 health sciences; food and nutritional science; gut microbiota; R; Review; simulator of the human intestinal microbial ecosystem (SHIME); drug development; RS1-441; human gastrointestinal microbiota; 03 medical and health sciences; Pharmacy and materia medica; Medicine; application

The human gastrointestinal microbiota plays a vital role in maintaining host health and preventing diseases, prompting the creation of simulators to replicate this intricate system. The Simulator of the Human Intestinal Microbial Ecosystem (SHIME®), a multicompartment dynamic simulator, has emerged as a pivotal in vitro model for studying the interactions and interferences within human gut microbiota. The continuous and real-time monitoring hallmarks, along with the programmatically flexible setup, bestow SHIME® mimicking the entire human intestinal ecosystem with high dynamics and stability, allowing the evaluation of various treatments on bowel microbiota in a con-trolled environment. This review outlines recent developments in SHIME technology, highlighting its applications in food and nutritional science, drug development, and gut health research. Additionally, the prospect of SHIME integrating with other advanced technologies is also discussed.