Skip to main content

The microbiota–gut–brain axis

Microbiota-gut-brain jigsawOur understanding of the complex and bidirectional signalling relationship between the gastrointestinal tract and the brain is evolving quickly. This relationship, dubbed the microbiota-gut-brain axis, is thought to be involved in many aspects of homeostasis in addition to the pathogenesis of several diseases, ranging from neurological and degenerative conditions to autoimmune diseases. 

This cross-journal collection brings together both human and animal studies covering all aspects of the microbiota-gut-brain axis’ role in health and disease, as well as its therapeutic potential. The participating journals, spanning both neuroscience and microbiology, are listed below.

Submissions should be formatted according to individual journal guidelines. Please indicate clearly in the cover letter and as part of the online submission form that the manuscript is to be considered for this collection. 

All manuscripts will undergo standard peer review, and must be submitted through the relevant journal's online submission system.

Pre-submission enquiries are welcome.

Participating Journals

Animal Microbiome

Gut Pathogens

Microbiome

Porcine Health Management

  

Acta Neuropathologica Communications

Alzheimer’s Research and Therapy

Behavioral and Brain Functions

Fluids and Barriers of the CNS

Journal of Neuroinflammation

Molecular Autism

Molecular Neurodegeneration

Neural Development

  1. Remodeling eubiosis of the gut microenvironment may contribute to preventing the occurrence and development of depression. Mounting experimental evidence has shown that complement C3 signaling is associated wi...

    Authors: Wenzhi Hao, Qingyu Ma, Lu Wang, Naijun Yuan, Hua Gan, Liangliang He, Xiaojuan Li, Junqing Huang and Jiaxu Chen
    Citation: Microbiome 2024 12:34
    Content type: Research Published on:

  2. Perioperative neurocognitive disorders (PND) are the most common postoperative complications with few therapeutic options. Gut microbial dysbiosis is associated with neurological diseases; however, the mechani...

    Authors: Cailong Pan, Huiwen Zhang, Lingyuan Zhang, Lu Chen, Lu Xu, Ning Xu, Xue Liu, Qinghai Meng, Xiaoliang Wang and Zhi-Yuan Zhang
    Citation: Microbiome 2023 11:248
    Content type: Research Published on:

  3. Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has been associated with intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR), but the underlying mechanisms are unclear.

    Authors: Tingting Wang, Beidi Chen, Mingcui Luo, Lulu Xie, Mengxi Lu, Xiaoqian Lu, Shuai Zhang, Liyi Wei, Xinli Zhou, Baozhen Yao, Hui Wang and Dan Xu
    Citation: Microbiome 2023 11:245
    Content type: Research Published on:

  4. Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often have digestive problems and microbial imbalances in their guts, suggesting that these conditions may play a role in the development of the disorder. Scopus-ba...

    Authors: Sa’ed H. Zyoud, Muna Shakhshir, Amani S. Abushanab, Amer Koni, Moyad Shahwan, Ammar A. Jairoun, Adham Abu Taha and Samah W. Al-Jabi
    Citation: Gut Pathogens 2023 15:50
    Content type: Research Published on:

  5. Cerebral autosomal dominant arteriopathy with subcortical infarcts and leukoencephalopathy (CADASIL) is a cerebral small vessel disease that carries mutations in NOTCH3. The clinical manifestations are influenced...

    Authors: Sheng Liu, Xuejiao Men, Yang Guo, Wei Cai, Ruizhen Wu, Rongsui Gao, Weicong Zhong, Huating Guo, Hengfang Ruan, Shuli Chou, Junrui Mai, Suning Ping, Chao Jiang, Hongwei Zhou, Xiangyu Mou, Wenjing Zhao…
    Citation: Microbiome 2023 11:202
    Content type: Research Published on:

  6. The human gut bacteriome is believed to have pivotal influences on human health and disease while the particular roles associated with the gut phageome have not been fully characterized yet with few exceptions...

    Authors: Khashayar Shahin, Abbas Soleimani-Delfan, Zihan He, Philippe Sansonetti and Jean-Marc Collard
    Citation: Gut Pathogens 2023 15:39
    Content type: Research Published on:

  7. Braak’s hypothesis states that sporadic Parkinson’s disease (PD) follows a specific progression of pathology from the peripheral to the central nervous system, and this progression can be monitored by detecti...

    Authors: Yogesh Singh, Christoph Trautwein, Joan Romani, Madhuri S. Salker, Peter H. Neckel, Isabel Fraccaroli, Mahkameh Abeditashi, Nils Woerner, Jakob Admard, Achal Dhariwal, Morten K. D. Dueholm, Karl-Herbert Schäfer, Florian Lang, Daniel E. Otzen, Hilal A. Lashuel, Olaf Riess…
    Citation: Molecular Neurodegeneration 2023 18:44
    Content type: Research article Published on:

  8. Gut microbiota plays a critical role in the regulation of immune homeostasis. Accordingly, several autoimmune disorders have been associated with dysbiosis in the gut microbiota. Notably, the dysbiosis associa...

    Authors: Carolina Prado, Alexandra Espinoza, J. Eduardo Martínez-Hernández, Joseph Petrosino, Erick Riquelme, Alberto J. M. Martin and Rodrigo Pacheco
    Citation: Journal of Neuroinflammation 2023 20:135
    Content type: Research Published on:

  9. Stress, herd transfer, and food changes experienced by nursery and fattening pigs can lead to reduced performance, reduced digestion and absorption, and impaired intestinal health. Given the role of essential ...

    Authors: Bi-Chen Zhao, Tian-Hao Wang, Jian Chen, Bai-Hao Qiu, Ya-Ru Xu, Qing Zhang, Jian-Jie Li, Chun-Jiang Wang, Qiu-Feng Nie and Jin-Long Li
    Citation: Porcine Health Management 2023 9:24
    Content type: Research Published on:

  10. Autoimmune neuropathies are common peripheral nervous system (PNS) disorders. Environmental influences and dietary components are known to affect the course of autoimmune diseases. Intestinal microorganisms ca...

    Authors: Yuting Meng, Xiangjie Qiu, Zhongxiang Tang, Yu Mao and Yurong Tan
    Citation: Journal of Neuroinflammation 2023 20:122
    Content type: Research Published on:

  11. Microbiome alterations have been associated with depression, and fecal transfer of depressed patients’ microbiomes is sufficient to enhance despair behaviors in rodents. Yet little is known about the potential...

    Authors: Eva M. Medina-Rodriguez, Jowan Watson, Juliana Reyes, Madhukar Trivedi and Eléonore Beurel
    Citation: Microbiome 2023 11:92
    Content type: Research Published on:

  12. Bacteria form a highly complex ecosystem in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. In recent years, mounting evidence has shown that bacteria can release nanoscale phospholipid bilayer particles that encapsulate nuc...

    Authors: Cheng-mei Tian, Mei-feng Yang, Hao-ming Xu, Min-zheng Zhu, Yuan Zhang, Jun Yao, Li-sheng Wang, Yu-jie Liang and De-feng Li
    Citation: Gut Pathogens 2023 15:20
    Content type: Review Published on:

  13. Gut homeostasis, including intestinal immunity and microbiome, is essential for cognitive function via the gut-brain axis. This axis is altered in high-fat diet (HFD)-induced cognitive impairment and is closel...

    Authors: Wei Pan, Jinxiu Zhao, Jiacheng Wu, Daxiang Xu, Xianran Meng, Pengfei Jiang, Hongli Shi, Xing Ge, Xiaoying Yang, Minmin Hu, Peng Zhang, Renxian Tang, Nathan Nagaratnam, Kuiyang Zheng, Xu-Feng Huang and Yinghua Yu
    Citation: Microbiome 2023 11:30
    Content type: Research Published on:

    The Correction to this article has been published in Microbiome 2023 11:55

  14. Sleep loss is a serious global health concern. Consequences include memory deficits and gastrointestinal dysfunction. Our previous research showed that melatonin can effectively improve cognitive impairment an...

    Authors: Xintong Wang, Zixu Wang, Jing Cao, Yulan Dong and Yaoxing Chen
    Citation: Microbiome 2023 11:17
    Content type: Research Published on:

  15. Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common neurodegenerative disease and its pathogenesis is still unclear. There is dysbiosis of gut microbiota in AD patients. More importantly, dysbiosis of the gut microbio...

    Authors: Xiao-hang Qian, Xiao-li Liu, Guang Chen, Sheng-di Chen and Hui-dong Tang
    Citation: Journal of Neuroinflammation 2022 19:236
    Content type: Research Published on:

  16. There is emerging evidence that the gut microbiome composition is associated with several human health outcomes, which include cognitive performance. However, only a few prospective epidemiological studies exi...

    Authors: Kolade Oluwagbemigun, Maike E. Schnermann, Matthias Schmid, John F. Cryan and Ute Nöthlings
    Citation: Gut Pathogens 2022 14:15
    Content type: Research Published on:

  17. Plasma amyloid-β (Aβ) may facilitate identification of individuals with brain amyloidosis. Gut microbial dysbiosis in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is increasingly being recognized. However, knowledge about alterat...

    Authors: Can Sheng, Kun Yang, Beiqi He, Wenying Du, Yanning Cai and Ying Han
    Citation: Alzheimer's Research & Therapy 2022 14:35
    Content type: Research Published on:

  18. There is growing recognition that bidirectional signaling between the digestive tract and the brain contributes to irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). We recently showed in a large randomized controlled trial that...

    Authors: Jonathan P. Jacobs, Arpana Gupta, Ravi R. Bhatt, Jacob Brawer, Kan Gao, Kirsten Tillisch, Venu Lagishetty, Rebecca Firth, Gregory D. Gudleski, Benjamin M. Ellingson, Jennifer S. Labus, Bruce D. Naliboff, Jeffrey M. Lackner and Emeran A. Mayer
    Citation: Microbiome 2021 9:236
    Content type: Research Published on:

  19. Communication between the gut microbiota and the brain is primarily mediated via soluble microbe-derived metabolites, but the details of this pathway remain poorly defined. Methylamines produced by microbial m...

    Authors: Lesley Hoyles, Matthew G. Pontifex, Ildefonso Rodriguez-Ramiro, M. Areeb Anis-Alavi, Khadija S. Jelane, Tom Snelling, Egle Solito, Sonia Fonseca, Ana L. Carvalho, Simon R. Carding, Michael Müller, Robert C. Glen, David Vauzour and Simon McArthur
    Citation: Microbiome 2021 9:235
    Content type: Research Published on:

  20. Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a prevalent neurodegenerative disorder, displaying not only well-known motor deficits but also gastrointestinal dysfunctions. Consistently, it has been increasingly evident that gut...

    Authors: Zhe Zhao, Jingwen Ning, Xiu-qi Bao, Meiyu Shang, Jingwei Ma, Gen Li and Dan Zhang
    Citation: Microbiome 2021 9:226
    Content type: Research Published on:

  21. Cognitive impairment, an increasing mental health issue, is a core feature of the aging brain and neurodegenerative diseases. Industrialized nations especially, have experienced a marked decrease in dietary fi...

    Authors: Hongli Shi, Xing Ge, Xi Ma, Mingxuan Zheng, Xiaoying Cui, Wei Pan, Peng Zheng, Xiaoying Yang, Peng Zhang, Minmin Hu, Tao Hu, Renxian Tang, Kuiyang Zheng, Xu-Feng Huang and Yinghua Yu
    Citation: Microbiome 2021 9:223
    Content type: Research Published on:

  22. The intestinal microbiota plays an important role in regulating gastrointestinal (GI) physiology in part through interactions with the enteric nervous system (ENS). Alterations in the gut microbiome frequently...

    Authors: Fernando A. Vicentini, Catherine M. Keenan, Laurie E. Wallace, Crystal Woods, Jean-Baptiste Cavin, Amanda R. Flockton, Wendy B. Macklin, Jaime Belkind-Gerson, Simon A. Hirota and Keith A. Sharkey
    Citation: Microbiome 2021 9:210
    Content type: Research Published on:

  23. Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are associated with dysregulation of the microbiota-gut-brain axis, changes in microbiota composition as well as in the fecal, serum, and urine levels of microbial metabolites. ...

    Authors: Patricia Bermudez-Martin, Jérôme A. J. Becker, Nicolas Caramello, Sebastian P. Fernandez, Renan Costa-Campos, Juliette Canaguier, Susana Barbosa, Laura Martinez-Gili, Antonis Myridakis, Marc-Emmanuel Dumas, Aurélia Bruneau, Claire Cherbuy, Philippe Langella, Jacques Callebert, Jean-Marie Launay, Joëlle Chabry…
    Citation: Microbiome 2021 9:157
    Content type: Research Published on:

  24. The influence of the gut microbiota on traumatic brain injury (TBI) is presently unknown. This knowledge gap is of paramount clinical significance as TBI patients are highly susceptible to alterations in the g...

    Authors: Marta Celorrio, Miguel A. Abellanas, James Rhodes, Victoria Goodwin, Jennie Moritz, Sangeetha Vadivelu, Leran Wang, Rachel Rodgers, Sophia Xiao, Ilakkia Anabayan, Camryn Payne, Alexandra M. Perry, Megan T. Baldridge, Maria S. Aymerich, Ashley Steed and Stuart H. Friess
    Citation: Acta Neuropathologica Communications 2021 9:40
    Content type: Research Published on:

  25. In recent years, excellent results have suggested an association between the “brain-gut” axis and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) progression, yet the role of the “brain-gut” axis in AD pathogenesis still remains obs...

    Authors: Xinru Gu, Junyi Zhou, Yanyan Zhou, Hongjie Wang, Nan Si, Wei Ren, Wei Zhao, Xiaorui Fan, Wenya Gao, Xiaolu Wei, Jian Yang, Baolin Bian and Haiyu Zhao
    Citation: Alzheimer's Research & Therapy 2021 13:44
    Content type: Research Published on:

  26. Across taxa, animals with depleted intestinal microbiomes show disrupted behavioral phenotypes. Axenic (i.e., microbe-free) mice, zebrafish, and fruit flies exhibit increased locomotor behavior, or hyperactivi...

    Authors: Chelsea A. Weitekamp, Allison Kvasnicka, Scott P. Keely, Nichole E. Brinkman, Xia Meng Howey, Shaza Gaballah, Drake Phelps, Tara Catron, Todd Zurlinden, Emily Wheaton and Tamara Tal
    Citation: Animal Microbiome 2021 3:12
    Content type: Research Article Published on:

  27. Mounting evidence suggests a role for the gut microbiota in modulating brain physiology and behaviour, through bi-directional communication, along the gut-brain axis. As such, the gut microbiota represents a p...

    Authors: Marcel van de Wouw, Aaron M. Walsh, Fiona Crispie, Lucas van Leuven, Joshua M. Lyte, Marcus Boehme, Gerard Clarke, Timothy G. Dinan, Paul D. Cotter and John F. Cryan
    Citation: Microbiome 2020 8:67
    Content type: Research Published on:

  28. The impact of the gut microbiota on host physiology and behavior has been relatively well established. Whether changes in microbial composition affect brain structure and function is largely elusive, however. ...

    Authors: Anouk C. Tengeler, Sarita A. Dam, Maximilian Wiesmann, Jilly Naaijen, Miranda van Bodegom, Clara Belzer, Pieter J. Dederen, Vivienne Verweij, Barbara Franke, Tamas Kozicz, Alejandro Arias Vasquez and Amanda J. Kiliaan
    Citation: Microbiome 2020 8:44
    Content type: Research Published on:

  29. As more animal studies start to disentangle pathways linking the gut microbial ecosystem and neurobehavioral traits, human studies have grown rapidly. Many have since investigated the bidirectional communicati...

    Authors: Lucius Kang Hua Ho, Valerie Jia Wei Tong, Nicholas Syn, Niranjan Nagarajan, Elizabeth Huiwen Tham, Stacey K. Tay, Shefaly Shorey, Paul Anantharajah Tambyah and Evelyn Chung Ning Law
    Citation: Gut Pathogens 2020 12:6
    Content type: Review Published on:

  30. Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a fatal neurodegenerative disease. APOE4 is the greatest genetic risk factor for AD, increasing risk up to 15-fold compared to the common APOE3. Importantly, female (♀) APOE4 carriers ...

    Authors: Juan Maldonado Weng, Ishita Parikh, Ankur Naqib, Jason York, Stefan J. Green, Steven Estus and Mary Jo LaDu
    Citation: Molecular Neurodegeneration 2019 14:47
    Content type: Short report Published on:

  31. Inflammasomes have been found to interact with the gut microbiota, and this effect is associated with depression, but the mechanisms underlying this interaction have not been elucidated in detail.

    Authors: Yuan Zhang, Rongrong Huang, Mengjing Cheng, Lirui Wang, Jie Chao, Junxu Li, Peng Zheng, Peng Xie, Zhijun Zhang and Honghong Yao
    Citation: Microbiome 2019 7:116
    Content type: Research Published on:

  32. Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease whose various pathophysiological aspects are still being investigated. Recently, it has been hypothesized that AD may be associated with a dysbiosis of m...

    Authors: Francesco Angelucci, Katerina Cechova, Jana Amlerova and Jakub Hort
    Citation: Journal of Neuroinflammation 2019 16:108
    Content type: Review Published on:

  33. Evidence from preclinical and clinical studies suggests that interactions among the brain, gut, and microbiota may affect the pathophysiology of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). As disruptions in central and pe...

    Authors: Jennifer S. Labus, Vadim Osadchiy, Elaine Y. Hsiao, Julien Tap, Muriel Derrien, Arpana Gupta, Kirsten Tillisch, Boris Le Nevé, Cecilia Grinsvall, Maria Ljungberg, Lena Öhman, Hans Törnblom, Magnus Simren and Emeran A. Mayer
    Citation: Microbiome 2019 7:45
    Content type: Research Published on:

  34. Development of central nervous system (CNS) is regulated by both intrinsic and peripheral signals. Previous studies have suggested that environmental factors affect neurological activities under both physiolog...

    Authors: Qianquan Ma, Changsheng Xing, Wenyong Long, Helen Y. Wang, Qing Liu and Rong-Fu Wang
    Citation: Journal of Neuroinflammation 2019 16:53
    Content type: Review Published on:

  35. Trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO), a small molecule produced by the metaorganismal metabolism of dietary choline, has been implicated in human disease pathogenesis, including known risk factors for Alzheimer’s diseas...

    Authors: Nicholas M. Vogt, Kymberleigh A. Romano, Burcu F. Darst, Corinne D. Engelman, Sterling C. Johnson, Cynthia M. Carlsson, Sanjay Asthana, Kaj Blennow, Henrik Zetterberg, Barbara B. Bendlin and Federico E. Rey
    Citation: Alzheimer's Research & Therapy 2018 10:124
    Content type: Research Published on:

  36. Antibiotic resistance is by far one of the most important health threats of our time. Only a global concerted effort of several disciplines based on the One-Health concept will help in slowing down this proces...

    Authors: Esther-Maria Antão, Szilvia Vincze, Regina Hanke, Lukas Klimmek, Katarzyna Suchecka, Antina Lübke-Becker and Lothar H. Wieler
    Citation: Gut Pathogens 2018 10:52
    Content type: Review Published on:

  37. Emerging evidence suggests that gut-brain-microbiota axis (GBMAx) may play a pivotal role linking gastrointestinal and neuronal disease. In this review, we summarize the latest advances in studies of GBMAx in ...

    Authors: Liang Zhao, Qiutang Xiong, Creed M. Stary, Omer Kamal Mahgoub, Yingze Ye, Lijuan Gu, Xiaoxing Xiong and Shengmei Zhu
    Citation: Journal of Neuroinflammation 2018 15:339
    Content type: Review Published on:

  38. Gut microbiota has the capacity to impact the regular function of the brain, which can in turn affect the composition of microbiota. Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) patients suffer from gastrointestinal problem...

    Authors: Fang Liu, Kayla Horton-Sparks, Vanessa Hull, Robert W. Li and Verónica Martínez-Cerdeño
    Citation: Molecular Autism 2018 9:61
    Content type: Research Published on: