User:Erictleung/Bladder microbiome

The bladder microbiome (also urobiome or urinary microbiome) is the collection of microorganisms that exist in the bladder.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41585-018-0127-5 (PDF: https://europepmc.org/backend/ptpmcrender.fcgi?accid=PMC6628711&blobtype=pdf)

Until 2014, it was believed that the bladder was sterile and void of microorganisms. However, it was thoroughly verified that there are resident commensal microorganisms in the bladder.

Bladder as sterile
Experiments giving evidence to the dogma that urine is sterile date to the 1800s. In 1871, Joseph Lister has glasses of urine, some treated with small amounts of tap water and the rest untreated. The untreated glasses of urine remained sterile, and so he is quoted saying, "The fresh and healthy urine is perfectly free from bacteria or other minute organisms"

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11884-016-0345-8

Discovering the commensal bacteria
The bladder was notably not a body site in the Human Microbiome Project, a research initiative started in 2007 to categorize microorganisms on other body sites like the gastrointestinal tract, skin, vagina, and mouth. Starting around 2010, the use of culture-independent 16S rRNA sequencing allowed researchers to find evidence of colonized bacteria in the male urogenital tract from voided urine samples. In 2023, evidence of uncultivated bacteria was also found in female urinary tracts.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3957746/

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11884-016-0345-8

Urinary tract infections
https://www.abc.net.au/news/health/2018-06-03/bladder-microbiome-study-could-be-game-changer-for-uti-treatment/9822020

Connections with vaginal microbiome
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-03968-5

Lower urinary tract symptoms
TODO

Bladder cancer
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0090429519300068 Review article