The microbiota-gut-brain axis in neuropsychiatric disorders: Pathophysiological mechanisms and novel treatments

With neuroscience researchers suggesting over the past few years that the gut microbiota is essential for the development and maturation of brain systems associated with stress responses, Kim & Shin (2018) decided to provide an overview of the communication that takes place between microbiota, the gut and the brain, while also summarizing the results of preclinical and clinical studies on gut microbiota used in treatments for neuropsychiatric disorders. This review found numerous recent studies reporting that several neuropsychiatric disorders, including autism, depression, anxiety, and schizophrenia, were associated with or modulated by diversity in the microbiome, microbial substrates, exogenous prebiotics, antibiotics, and probiotics. The conclusion was that the microbiota-gut-brain axis has the potential to provide us with novel targets for prevention and treatment of neuropsychiatric disorders, although further studies are required to substantiate the clinical use of probiotics, prebiotics and fecal microbiota transplant (FMT). [NPID: microbiome, MGBA, gut-brain axis, gut microbiome, neurological impairment, autism, depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, microbiome diversity, probiotics, prebiotics, fecal microbiota transplant]

Year: 2018

Reference: Kim, Y. K., & Shin, C. (2018). The Microbiota-Gut-Brain Axis in Neuropsychiatric Disorders: Pathophysiological Mechanisms and Novel Treatments. Current neuropharmacology, 16(5), 559–573. https://doi.org/10.2174/1570159X15666170915141036

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