The relationship between the gut microbiota and the brain is something known, but it seems that this association is more intimate than we imagined. At the last Neuroscience Society conference, the University of Alabama presented a report showing that certain gut bacteria live in different regions of the brain, which appears to be a brain microbiome.
This discovery is fascinating and intimidating. We found the bacteria, we know they’re there, but we still don’t have an explanation of how they got to the brain, whether they’re beneficial or harmful, it’s also believed to influence mood and even personality. .
- The gut microbiome is the set of microorganisms that live in our gut.
- Composed of billions of different species of bacteria.
- Which in turn are made up of more than three million genes.
- Of all.
- Only a third is common to all human beings; the rest is unique to each person.
- So the gut microbiome is an important part of each of us’s identity.
Among its most important functions we can highlight the regulation of the immune system, the absorption of nutrients and the control of external pathogens. Any modification of the gut microbiota can lead to autoimmune diseases, allergies and infections. In fact, it has also recently been linked to Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease.
On the other hand, imbalances in this flora generate endotoxins, high levels of oxidation and accumulation of abdominal fat, in addition, chronic inflammation causes cardiovascular problems and diabetes.
Although there is a general fear of microbes and bacteria, the truth is that we cannot live without them, we are not aware, but we have billions of living things living in our bodies.
The presence of bacteria in the brain has aroused curiosity and surprise in the scientific community, in fact, one of the first issues to resolve is how they reach the brain because it is protected by the blood brain barrier.
The blood brain barrier is a system of protection against the entry of foreign substances, which allows the passage of water, fat-soluble molecules and certain gases, in addition allows the selective passage of amino acids and other molecules, however bacteria present in the brain are mainly intestinal phylogeny.
These are glial cells that support neurons, astrocytes, which prevent neurotoxins and other substances from entering the brain, these harmful substances, when they manage to overcome the barrier in one way or another, often cause inflammation with very negative or even fatal consequences. The funny thing is that astrocytes seem to be the preferred place for these gut bacteria to live in the brain.
Although some proposals have been defined on how bacteria reach the brain, for example through the nerves of the intestine, blood brain barrier or nose, it is not yet known what causes it, much remains to be studied about this possible brain microbiome.
Dr. Rosalind Roberts, along with her Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurobiology team at the University of Alabama, was responsible for this discovery. They studied the brains of 34 people; half of them were healthy individuals and the rest had schizophrenia. In addition, a parallel study was conducted on rats to rule out that the bacteria did not appear until after death, or that the study may have had contamination errors.
Both studies observed the presence of bacteria in the human brain and brains of rats, in non-infectious or traumatic situations, in fact, they were found in various areas of the brain, especially in dark matter, in the hippocampus. and in the prefrontal cortex, and little in the striatum. In addition, none of the brains examined had inflammation.
These results have left the door open to speculation and possible new research on the cerebral microbiome, and the possibility that these microbes may be related to behavior, mood and certain neurological diseases is currently being evaluated.
Results in healthy people lead us to think that these bacteria can be beneficial in both the brain and gut, but currently no possibility can be ruled out.
Main image of Rosala Roberts, Courtney Walker and Charlene Farmer