Gut-brain axis

The gut-brain axis is the bidirectional biochemical signaling that takes places between the gut and the brain, often involving intestinal microbiota. It is a framework that explains how dysbiosis might effect brain function in neurological disease and how attempt to alter micro biome composition might be therapeutic.

Most scientific knowledge about gut-brain interactions comes from the study of germ-free and single organism mice, that is mice that are raised with a completely sterile gastrointestinal tract or who are inoculated with a single bacterial species. Mice that develop without a microbiome have sensory processing impairments and impairments of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis stress response.