Fistulas Healing. Stable Gastric Pentadecapeptide BPC 157 Therapy
Sikiric et al./PubMed/2021
Why It Matters
This paper caught my attention because fistulas are notoriously difficult to heal and often require surgery. The fact that a peptide already present in our stomachs might promote healing is intriguing — but this is purely animal data. No human trials on fistula healing exist yet, so this is very early-stage research despite the dramatic results in rats. Not a doctor. Just a guy who reads the papers.
Key Findings
- BPC 157 healed multiple types of external fistulas in rats: esophagocutaneous, gastrocutaneous, duodenocutaneous, and colocutaneous (connections from digestive organs to the skin)
- The peptide also healed internal fistulas including colovesical (colon to bladder) and rectovaginal connections in rat models
- BPC 157 improved healing of surgical anastomoses (reconnected intestines) across the entire GI tract, even when healing was impaired by NSAIDs or other complications
- The peptide is stable in human gastric juice for over 24 hours and no lethal dose (LD1) was achieved in studies, suggesting low toxicity
- Effects were consistent across various complications including ulcerative colitis, short bowel syndrome, and liver/brain disturbances in rat models
Read the Paper↗PMID: 32329684