Gut microbes and the brain: paradigm shift in neuroscience.
The discovery of the size and complexity of the human microbiome has resulted in an ongoing reevaluation of many concepts of health and disease, including diseases affecting the CNS. A growing body of preclinical literature has demonstrated bidirectional signaling between the brain and the gut microbiome, involving multiple neurocrine and endocrine signaling mechanisms. While psychological and physical stressors can affect the composition and metabolic activity of the gut microbiota, experimental changes to the gut microbiome can affect emotional behavior and related brain systems. These findings have resulted in speculation that alterations in the gut microbiome may play a pathophysiological role in human brain diseases, including autism spectrum disorder, anxiety, depression, and chronic pain. Ongoing large-scale population-based studies of the gut microbiome and brain imaging studies looking at the effect of gut microbiome modulation on brain responses to emotion-related stimuli are seeking to validate these speculations. This article is a summary of emerging topics covered in a symposium and is not meant to be a comprehensive review of the subject.
Oppenheimer Center for Neurobiology of Stress, Departments of Medicine, Physiology, and Biobehavioral Sciences, Division of Digestive Diseases, David Geffen School of Medicine at University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California 90095, emayer@ucla.edu.
Emeran A
http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3923-3349
EA
Mayer
Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Departments of Chemistry & Biochemistry and Computer Science, and BioFrontiers Institute, University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, Colorado 80309.
Rob
R
Knight
Department of Biology and Biological Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125.
Sarkis K
SK
Mazmanian
Department of Anatomy & Neuroscience and Alimentary Pharmabiotic Centre, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland, and.
John F
http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5887-2723
JF
Cryan
Oppenheimer Center for Neurobiology of Stress, Departments of Medicine, Physiology, and Biobehavioral Sciences, Division of Digestive Diseases, David Geffen School of Medicine at University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California 90095, Department of Medicine, Division of Integrative Medicine, Veterans Administration Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, Los Angeles, California 90073.
Kirsten
K
Tillisch
D000818:Animals; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D001927:Brain Diseases / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000503:physiopathology; D041981:Gastrointestinal Tract / Q000382:microbiology*; D006801:Humans; D064307:Microbiota / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D019936:Probiotics / Q000627:therapeutic use
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents