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Dear Colleagues,

In recent years, the scope of research on the bidirectional communication system between the gastrointestinal tract and the central nervous system—known as the “gut–brain axis”—has broadened dramatically. Initially, gut–brain axis research was almost exclusively focused on gastrointestinal symptom generation and perception. However, recent methodological advances in molecular biology and chemistry as well as bioinformatics allowing, among others, the study of the composition and function of the gut microbiota in vivo have expanded the scope of gut–brain axis research far beyond its initial narrow boundaries as a niche within “neurogastroenterology”. More specifically, recent studies have demonstrated a profound impact of nutritional as well as gut microbiota manipulations on psychobiological processes in rodents. Efforts towards translation to humans are beginning to be made, but are still limited, and results are somewhat mixed.

In this Special Issue on “The (Microbiota)–Gut–Brain Axis: Hype or Revolution?” we invite researchers to submit original research and review articles on the microbiota–gut–brain axis, including but not limited to the following topics:

gut–brain signaling mechanisms underlying gastrointestinal symptom generation and perception in health and functional gastrointestinal disorders
gut–brain signaling mechanisms underlying the control of appetite and feeding in health and disease
influence of nutrient-related gut–brain signals on affective and cognitive processes in health and disease
influence of gut microbiota composition and function on psychobiological processes in health and disease, and identification of the microbiota–gut–brain signaling mechanisms underlying these relationships

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Lukas Van Oudenhove
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Biomedicines is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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21 pages, 524 KiB

Open AccessConcept Paper

The Transformative Possibilities of the Microbiota and Mycobiota for Health, Disease, Aging, and Technological Innovation

by Lucas Jones, Jessica Kumar, Adil Mistry, Thriveen Sankar Chittoor Mana, George Perry, V. Prakash Reddy and Mark Obrenovich

Biomedicines 2019, 7(2), 24; https://doi.org/10.3390/biomedicines7020024 - 28 Mar 2019

Cited by 27 | Viewed by 6095

Abstract

The gut microbiota is extremely important for the health of the host across its lifespan. Recent studies have elucidated connections between the gut microbiota and neurological disease and disorders such as depression, anxiety, Alzheimer’s disease (AD), autism, and a host of other brain illnesses. Dysbiosis of the normal gut flora can have negative consequences for humans, especially throughout key periods during our lifespan as the gut microbes change with age in both phenotype and number of bacterial species. Neurologic diseases, mental disorders, and euthymic states are influenced by alterations in the metabolites produced by gut microbial milieu. We introduce a new concept, namely, the mycobiota and microbiota-gut-brain neuroendocrine axis and discuss co-metabolism with emphasis on means to influence or correct disruptions to normal gut flora throughout the lifespan from early development to old age. These changes involve inflammation and involve the permeability of barriers, such as the intestine blood barrier, the blood–brain barrier, and others. The mycobiota and microbiota–gut–brain axis offer new research horizons and represents a great potential target for new therapeutics, including approaches based around inflammatory disruptive process, genetically engineered drug delivery systems, diseased cell culling “kill switches”, phage-like therapies, medicinal chemistry, or microbial parabiosis to name a few. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The (Microbiota)-Gut-Brain Axis: Hype or Revolution?)

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