Slime Mould in the human gut.

[Elton]

Hi all,
i saw this youtube video and was interested if it is slime mould in the human gut.

[Elton]

https://youtu.be/E38-ORiPpaY

[Nemo Andrea]

Hmm, it would surprise me very much if a slime mold could survive inside any part of the human body. Their natural ecological role/niche does to my knowledge (To be fair I have limited experience with different slime molds) not involve other organisms than bacteria and fungi. As such I do not expect them to have any adaptations that would allow evasion of the immune system or ability to survive within the human body with its rather different conditions from forest floor and such.

[Elton]

Hi, Andrea. The human gut is full of bacteria, fungia and there is no light and full of water. Maybe some of the members of this forum are very familiar with slime mould shape and can tell if the things in the colonoscopy are slime mould or not.

[RyChu]

Based on the video, I would say it isn't slime mold. In the video, it is stretched to peel it off which is something I have never seen a slime mold do before (they usually just break apart). I agree that slime molds would probably struggle in the human body but I don't know for sure.

[ian]

That just looks like the kind of mucous you get with inflamed mucosal tissue, I don't do gut but I've spent a fair bit of time picking the stuff off uterine biopsy samples ( lovely job for a Monday morning) . Even if they could make it through the stomach, myxomycetes are aerobic organisms, there's a distinct lack of oxygen in there - the only reason it looks roomy and spacious is the co2 they pump in before shoving the camera up.

I do have an endoscope if anyone wants to experiment 

[RyChu]

Imagine the ethics forms you would have to fill out to be authorized to raise slime molds in the gut.