The gut microbiome - brain connection has been the talk of the town, especially in the context of neurodegenerative diseases. But how about bacteria in the brain? These researchers presented an abstract a few weeks ago claiming to have found bacteria in the brains of both humans and mice models under non-traumatic and noninfectious conditions (Roberts, Farmer, Walker, 2018). What's interesting is that they found the substantia nigra to be one of the predominant locations for bacteria to to be found, which also happens to be the site of neurodegeneration in Parkinson's Disease. They claim bacteria gain access to the brain from either the gut or nasal passages, which would correlate with the two main prodromal features of Parkinson's disease: constipation and loss of smell. However, other neurodegenerative diseases have been connected with the gut microbiome that do not share these prodromal features. So how does the gut microbiome affect differentiation of different disorders? Does the gut microbiome that everyone has been raving about just regulate the brain microbiome, which causes the real problems? If a brain microbiome exists, what does this mean for the direction of future treatment options?
Citations:
1. R. C. ROBERTS, C. B. FARMER, C. K. WALKER;
Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurobio., Univ. of Alabama, Birmingham, Birmingham, AL. The human brain microbiome; there are bacteria in our brains!. Program No. 594.08. 2018 Neuroscience Meeting Planner. San Diego, CA: Society for Neuroscience, 2018. Online.
The microbiome of the body needs to be studied a lot more. In the recent years researchers are learning more and more about how it influences the body. One of the posts I did was about how an obese mother's gut microbiome can influence obesity and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease later in life for the child. By understanding exactly how the microbes in the body are influencing different diseases can have a huge impact on treatment and prevention in the near future. Unfortunately, I found this article (link below), that talks about how important a balanced microbiome is to reaching a person's physical potential. I say unfortunately because it says highly caffeinated drinks quickly disrupt our gut microbiome and in the long term doesn't help us reach our full physical potential... which is bad news because we use pre-workout whenever we lift!
ReplyDeletehttps://www.hyperbiotics.com/blogs/recent-articles/113772550-the-secret-to-naturally-increasing-energy-endurance-and-muscle-mass
Andrew,
ReplyDeleteI understand the implications of what you have shared, but you and I both know we will still be consuming double scoops of "Woke AF" before leg day.