Efficacy of faecal microbiota transplantation on ulcerative colitis and its effect on gastrointestinal motility and immune function

Objective: To investigate the efficacy of faecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) in the treatment of ulcerative colitis (UC) and its effect on gastrointestinal motility (GM) and immune function. Methods: A retrospective cohort study was conducted on 47 UC patients. The patients were divided into an observation group (n=17, treated with FMT) and a control group (n=30, treated with conventional treatment) according to the treatment regimen. In the observation group, FMT was used to treat colonic lesions by transplanting colonic bacteria fluid from healthy people. Clinical efficacy, immune function, level of inflammatory factors and gastrointestinal function of the two groups were observed before and after treatment. Results: The total response rates of observation group was 94.12%, which was higher than that of control group (70.00%; P<0.05). After treatment, the contents of CD3+, CD4+ T cells and CD4+/CD8+ ratio were increased, while the content of CD8+ T cells was decreased in both groups compared with those before treatment (all P<0.05); and the contents of CD3+, CD4+ T cells and CD4+/CD8+ ratio in the observation group were higher than those in the control group, while CD8+ T cells showed an opposite trend (P<0.05). The levels of immunoglobulin A, immunoglobulin G and immunoglobulin M as well as interleukin-6, C-reactive protein, tumor necrosis factor-alpha and motilin were lower than those before treatment in both groups (all P<0.05), and the decreases in the observation group were more significant than those in the control group (all P<0.001). After treatment, cholecystokinin and vasoactive peptide were higher than those before treatment in both groups (all P<0.05), and the increased degree in the observation group was more obvious than that in the control group (all P<0.001). Conclusion: FMT has significant clinical efficacy in the treatment of UC, which may be related to the improvement of immune function, alleviation of inflammatory response and promotion of GM recovery.