title: The Microbiome of the Built Environment and Human Behavior: Implications for Emotional Health and Well-Being in Postmodern Western Societies.
abstract: It is increasingly evident that inflammation is an important determinant of cognitive function and emotional behaviors that are dysregulated in stress-related psychiatric disorders, such as anxiety and affective disorders. Inflammatory responses to physical or psychological stressors are dependent on immunoregulation, which is indicated by a balanced expansion of effector T-cell populations and regulatory T cells. This balance is in part driven by microbial signals. The hygiene or "old friends" hypothesis posits that exposure to immunoregulation-inducing microorganisms is reduced in modern urban societies, leading to an epidemic of inflammatory disease and increased vulnerability to stress-related psychiatric disorders. With the global trend toward urbanization, humans are progressively spending more time in built environments, thereby, experiencing limited exposures to these immunoregulatory "old friends." Here, we evaluate the implications of the global trend toward urbanization, and how this transition may affect human microbial exposures and human behavior.
authors: Center for Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, United States.
authors: C E
authors: CE
authors: Stamper
authors: US Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, CO, United States; Military and Veteran Microbiome Consortium for Research and Education (MVM-CoRE), Denver, CO, United States.
authors: A J
authors: AJ
authors: Hoisington
authors: Center for Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, United States.
authors: O M
authors: OM
authors: Gomez
authors: University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, United States.
authors: A L
authors: AL
authors: Halweg-Edwards
authors: Center for Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, United States.
authors: D G
authors: DG
authors: Smith
authors: US Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, CO, United States.
authors: K L
authors: KL
authors: Bates
authors: Military and Veteran Microbiome Consortium for Research and Education (MVM-CoRE), Denver, CO, United States; University of Texas Austin, Austin, TX, United States.
authors: K A
authors: KA
authors: Kinney
authors: Military and Veteran Microbiome Consortium for Research and Education (MVM-CoRE), Denver, CO, United States; University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States; VISN 5 Mental Illness Research Education and Clinical Center (MIRECC), Baltimore, MD, United States; Rocky Mountain Mental Illness Research Education and Clinical Center, Denver, CO, United States.
authors: T T
authors: TT
authors: Postolache
authors: Military and Veteran Microbiome Consortium for Research and Education (MVM-CoRE), Denver, CO, United States; Rocky Mountain Mental Illness Research Education and Clinical Center, Denver, CO, United States; University of Colorado, Aurora, CO, United States.
authors: L A
authors: LA
authors: Brenner
authors: Center for Clinical Microbiology, UCL (University College London), London, United Kingdom.
authors: G A W
authors: GA
authors: Rook
authors: Center for Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, United States; Military and Veteran Microbiome Consortium for Research and Education (MVM-CoRE), Denver, CO, United States; Rocky Mountain Mental Illness Research Education and Clinical Center, Denver, CO, United States; University of Colorado, Aurora, CO, United States. Electronic address: christopher.lowry@colorado.edu.
authors: C A
authors: CA
authors: Lowry
mesh_terms: D004779:Environment Design; D004780:Environment, Controlled; D006801:Humans; D007249:Inflammation; D008603:Mental Health; D064307:Microbiota / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: Behavior; Biodiversity hypothesis; Built environment; Hygiene hypothesis; Microbiome; Microbiome of the built environment; Urbanization