GI-MAP - Now available in the UK

Diagnostic Solutions Laboratory developed GI-MAP as a practitioner stool profile built entirely on quantitative PCR (qPCR). Instead of culture or 16S estimates, the assay targets the DNA of specific bacteria, parasites, viruses, fungi and H. pylori, and reports them as numbers you can follow over time. 

The gut microbiome mediates diet, immunity, metabolism and neuroendocrine signalling. When illness is chronic, the clinical question is usually not “Is there a microbe?” but “Which pattern is driving symptoms?” GI-MAP is used to sort that: infection or overgrowth, loss of beneficial flora, inflammatory load, or poor digestion.

Three patterns show up most often.
Insufficiency dysbiosis is a shortage of commensal and keystone bacteria such as Bifidobacterium, Lactobacillus, Akkermansia and Faecalibacterium prausnitzii — the organisms that support barrier function and anti-inflammatory tone.

Inflammatory dysbiosis is an excess of pathogens or opportunistic, often gram-negative, organisms that raise LPS/endotoxin load and keep the mucosa inflamed.

Digestive dysfunction dysbiosis is overgrowth linked to low stomach acid, low pancreatic enzymes or poor handling of food in the small bowel. It is a common finding behind bloating and fermentation-type symptoms and is easy to miss if you only look at pathogens.

H. pylori is reported with virulence factors and antibiotic-resistance genes, so you can judge whether a detected strain is more likely to be clinically aggressive and which agents may fail. As well as if yypochlorhydria is caused 

The optional StoolOMX add-on measures 25 bile acids and 9 short-chain fatty acids in the same collection. Use it when you need to see primary-to-secondary bile conversion, fat digestion, motility-related bile loss, and whether fermentation is carbohydrate- or protein-dominant. Zonulin can be added when barrier integrity is in question.

Test specifications

GI-MAP
Sample type: Stool (single collection)
Turnaround time: Approximately 3 weeks (UK)

Key markers: Pathogens (bacteria, parasites, viruses); H. pylori with virulence and antibiotic-resistance genes; commensal and keystone bacteria; opportunistic bacteria, yeast and protozoa; calprotectin; pancreatic elastase-1; secretory IgA; anti-gliadin IgA; steatocrit; β-glucuronidase; occult blood; eosinophil activation protein

Optional add-ons: Zonulin (intestinal permeability); StoolOMX,

Test resources

• Sample Report
• Collection Instructions
  
  
• GIMAP Product Brief
• Sample Report
• GIMAP Interpretive Guide + StoolOmx Interpretive Guide
• Understanding Common Dysbiosis Patterns 
• StoolOmx Product Brief
• StoolOmx - Interpretive Guide 
• Collection Instructions