The present invention relates primarily to modulation of gastrointestinal pain and in particular to selection of agents, such as Lactic Acid bacteria, capable of modulating gastrointestinal pain. Transient receptor potential vanilloid 1 (TRPV1) is a Ca2+ permeant cation channel expressed in, inter alia, the gastrointestinal tract. TRPV1 is thought to be involved in several gastrointestinal conditions that are associated with pain sensations and therefore is considered to be a potential target for developing drugs to treat different modalities of pain. The present invention provides a method for selecting a bacterial strain or a conditioned medium from said bacterial strain which reduces or prevents gastrointestinal pain in a subject, said method comprising: selecting a bacterial strain that reduces spontaneous and/or induced transient receptor potential vanilloid 1, TRPV1, activation, or a conditioned medium from said bacterial strain that reduces spontaneous and/or induced TRPV1 activation.
Selection of agents modulating gastrointestinal pain