Topic: short-chain fatty acids

Bipolar disorder (BD) is a chronic mood disorder characterized by recurrent episodes of depression and (hypo-) mania. The gut microbiome is a potential avenue through which metabolic signaling, inflammatory pathways and environmental factors influence mood disorders via the gut-brain axis. Fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) is a translational tool for investigating the connections between the gut microbiome and the brain, and there is evidence that FMT from humans to mice can induce changes in affective behavior. In this study, we compared the behavior, gut-brain metabolomic profiles, and

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a chronic neurodegenerative disease that is up to 90% idiopathic and occurs randomly in the population, possibly due to environmental factors. It is characterized by the progressive loss of dopaminergic neurons in the brain region called substantia nigra pars compacta (SNpc). This results in a range of motor and non-motor symptoms that severely impact the life quality of the affected individual. Studies have shown that gut dysbiosis in Parkinson's disease precedes neuronal degeneration, and our laboratory found that one of the environmental factors, dim light at nig

While emerging evidence suggests a role for gut bacteria in the pathophysiology of substance use disorder (SUD), studies of their impact on brain and behavioral responses to drugs have been very limited so far. We previously showed that gut dysbiosis enhances the nicotine-induced activation of the mesolimbic system and alters nicotine’s motivational properties in mice. However, the mechanisms linking gut bacteria to the mesolimbic system to influence its response to nicotine remain to be identified. Microbial products are suspected to play a role in this process by influencing gene expression,