Microbiome-Gut-Brain Interactions in Health and Neurological Disorders

Dear Colleagues,

Gut microbiota, as first speculated in 1885 by Louis Pasteur, plays a crucial role in human health and disease. The alterations in the composition of gut microbiota may cause the onset and the course of a number of human pathologies such as colorectal cancer, metabolic syndrome, obesity, allergies, inflammatory bowel disease, type 2 diabetes, and heart failure (Daliri et al., 2018). In the recent years, a growing number of evidence points to the relationship between the gut microbiota and the central nervous system, as the intestine and the brain can interact with each other through the nervous system or chemical substances crossing the blood-brain barrier. Indeed, the gut-brain interaction not only relies on the connection between intestinal neurons and the central nervous system mediated by the vagus nerve (Collins et al., 2012), but also on the action of substances produced by gut microbiota, immunological, neuroendocrine, and direct neural mechanisms that can influence brain activity, with possible repercussions on glial and neuronal function (Erny et al., 2015;  Wekerle et al., 2016; Dinan et al., 2017; Johnson et al., 2018; Gareau et al., 2010). 

Moreover, the emerging body of evidence indicates that both the onset and the progression of neurodevelopmental (Sherwin et al., 2016) and neurodegenerative disorders can be linked to gut dysbiosis (Quigley et al., 2017; Jiang et al., 2017; Barichella et al., 2018)

In light of the rapid expansion of the microbiome-brain interaction field, we propose this Special Issue to bring increased awareness to the diverse effect of the gut microbiome on brain homeostasis and disease. The objective of this Special Issue is to collate a series of reviews, commentaries, and research articles on the effect of the gut microbiome in various brain functions settings including, but not limited to, synaptic functions, neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative diseases.

Dr. Silvia Di Angelantonio
Guest Editor

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