ReviewAlimentary pharmacology & therapeutics2016
Review article: inhibition of methanogenic archaea by statins as a targeted management strategy for constipation and related disorders.
Review in Alimentary pharmacology & therapeutics, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 34 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
34 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 86 citations in OpenAlex.
- A systematic review of studies on the faecal microbiota in anorexia nervosa: future research may need to include microbiota from the small intestine.Eating and weight disorders : EWD · 2018Pooled it
- Emerging microbiome-directed therapies in inflammatory bowel disease: beyond diet modification and FMT.Seminars in immunopathology · 2025Review
- The Role of Gut Microbiota in Gastrointestinal Immune Homeostasis and Inflammation: Implications for Inflammatory Bowel Disease.Biomedicines · 2025Review
- Gut microbial ecology and function of a Pakistani cohort with Iron deficiency Anemia.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- A Potential Use of Vidarabine: Alleviation of Functional Constipation Through Modulation of the Adenosine A2A Receptor-MLC Signaling Pathway and the Gut Microbiota.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Article
- Exploring putative enteric methanogenesis inhibitors using molecular simulations and a graph neural network.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2024Article
- Targeted isolation of Methanobrevibacter strains from fecal samples expands the cultivated human archaeome.Nature communications · 2024Article
- Hydrogen Sulfide Producers Drive a Diarrhea-Like Phenotype and a Methane Producer Drives a Constipation-Like Phenotype in Animal Models.Digestive diseases and sciences · 2024Article
- Inclusion of the fungus Pleurotus florida in the diet affects performance and feed efficiency traits in calves: a case study on Ravi buffalo.Tropical animal health and production · 2023Article
- Methanogenic archaea in the human gastrointestinal tract.Nature reviews. Gastroenterology & hepatology · 2022Review
- Strategies for variable regulation of methanogenesis efficiency and velocity.Applied microbiology and biotechnology · 2022Article
- Review
- Dietary Plant Polyphenols as the Potential Drugs in Neurodegenerative Diseases: Current Evidence, Advances, and Opportunities.Oxidative medicine and cellular longevity · 2022Review
- Lovastatin as a supplement to mitigate rumen methanogenesis: an overview.Journal of animal science and biotechnology · 2021Review
- Going Beyond Bacteria: Uncovering the Role of Archaeome and Mycobiome in Inflammatory Bowel Disease.Frontiers in physiology · 2021Review
- The host-associated archaeome.Nature reviews. Microbiology · 2020Review
- Improving Nutritive Value of Purple Field Corn Residue and Rice Straw by Culturing with White-Rot Fungi.Journal of fungi (Basel, Switzerland) · 2020Article
- Targeting the gut microbiota for the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome.The Kaohsiung journal of medical sciences · 2020Review
- Eating Disorders and Gastrointestinal Diseases.Nutrients · 2019Review
- Pleurotus Ostreatus and Volvariella Volvacea Can Enhance the Quality of Purple Field Corn Stover and Modulate Ruminal Fermentation and Feed Utilization in Tropical Beef Cattle.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundObservational studies show a strong association between delayed intestinal transit and the production of methane. Experimental data suggest a direct inhibitory activity of methane on the colonic and ileal smooth muscle and a possible role for methane as a gasotransmitter. Archaea are the only confirmed biological sources of methane in nature and Methanobrevibacter smithii is the predominant methanogen in the human intestine.
aimTo review the biosynthesis and composition of archaeal cell membranes, archaeal methanogenesis and the mechanism of action of statins in this context.
methodsNarrative review of the literature.
resultsStatins can inhibit archaeal cell membrane biosynthesis without affecting bacterial numbers as demonstrated in livestock and humans. This opens the possibility of a therapeutic intervention that targets a specific aetiological factor of constipation while protecting the intestinal microbiome. While it is generally believed that statins inhibit methane production via their effect on cell membrane biosynthesis, mediated by inhibition of the HMG-CoA reductase, there is accumulating evidence for an alternative or additional mechanism of action where statins inhibit methanogenesis directly. It appears that this other mechanism may predominate when the lactone form of statins, particularly lovastatin lactone, is administered.
conclusionsClinical development appears promising. A phase 2 clinical trial is currently in progress that evaluates the effect of lovastatin lactone on methanogenesis and symptoms in patients with irritable bowel syndrome with constipation. The review concludes with an outlook for the future and subsequent work that needs to be done.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.