Abstract
The human gastrointestinal tract hosts trillions of microorganisms that is called “gut microbiota.” The gut microbiota is involved in a wide variety of physiological features and functions of the body. Thus, it is not surprising that any damage to the gut microbiota is associated with disorders in different body systems. Probiotics, defined as living microorganisms with health benefits for the host, can support or restore the composition of the gut microbiota. Numerous investigations have proved a relationship between the gut microbiota with normal brain function as well as many brain diseases, in which cognitive dysfunction is a common clinical problem. On the other hand, increasing evidence suggests that the existence of a healthy gut microbiota is crucial for normal cognitive processing. In this regard, interplay of the gut microbiota and cognition has been under focus of recent researches. In the present paper, I review findings of the studies considering beneficial effects of either gut microbiota or probiotic bacteria on the brain cognitive function in the healthy and disease statuses.
Highlights
It has long been known that consuming fermented food, especially milk and its products, is beneficial for body health (Guo et al, 2014; McFarland, 2015)
In a series of clinical trials, we found that 12 weeks probiotic supplementation (Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lactobacillus casei, Bifidobacterium bifidum, and Lactobacillus fermentum) positively affected some symptoms including mental health, inflammatory factors, and MDA levels in the multiple sclerosis (MS) patients (Kouchaki et al, 2017; Tamtaji et al, 2017; Salami et al, 2019)
It has been revealed that supplementation with the butyric acidproducing bacteria leads to increased contents of butyrate in the brain (Wall et al, 2012; Liu et al, 2015; Sun et al, 2015) and that improving the memory and learning abilities after consumption of the probiotics might be due to antioxidative effects triggered by the short chain fatty acids (SCFAs) (Ho et al, 2019)
Summary
It has long been known that consuming fermented food, especially milk and its products, is beneficial for body health (Guo et al, 2014; McFarland, 2015). Despite public attention about the importance of the exogenous microorganisms, it was later cleared that an extreme number of microorganisms, mostly different strains of bacteria, coexists in the gastrointestinal tract This community of microorganisms is named “gut microbiota.”. The intestinal bacteria has a mutual relation with the nervous system so that the current findings imply that an intact gut microbiota is required for proper brain function (Grenham et al, 2011). In this context, the gastrointestinal tract is known to be the origin of some neurological disorders (Hu et al, 2016). The effect of bacteria on other brain actions and related mechanisms are not considered
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