New possibilities for analyzing the biological role of hydrogen, methane and other biomarkers of gut microbiota activity using tunable diode laser absorption spectrometry and selective hydrogen and oxygen sensors

The paper presents a hardware-software complex consisting of a multichannel tunable high-resolution diode laser spectrometer for measuring gases $^{12}$СО$_2$, $^{13}$СО$_2$, СН$_4$, NH$_3$, H$_2$S and H$_2$O, as well as hydrogen and oxygen sensors for on-line measurements of exhaled gases. It allows continuous (every second) non-invasive measurement of the composition of biomarkers of the intestinal microbiota both in experiments on laboratory animals and in clinical studies on humans. The first experiments showed the possibility of using the device to study both exhaled air and intestinal gas. An important advantage of the developed new method for recording gases is both the continuity of measuring the composition of gases and the multi-channel nature of the recorded components, which makes it possible to assess the characteristics of the enzymatic activity of the intestinal microbiota and indirectly judge its taxonomic composition.