Simulating Distal Gut Mucosal and Luminal Communities Using Packed-column Biofilm Reactors and an in Vitro Chemostat Model

In vivo studies of human mucosal gut microbiota are often limited to end-point analyses and confounded by bowel cleansing procedures. Therefore, we used biofilm reactors to incorporate a simulated mucosal environment into an in vitro gut chemostat model. Communities developed were complex, reproducible, distinct, and representative of in vivo communities.