From: hounddog23x@gmail.com   
      
   Microbiome and Neuroscience: The Mind-bending Power of Bacteria   
      
      
   Our bodies are home to a vast ecosystem of microbes - the microbiome - that   
   has a powerful effect on the brain. Three researchers discuss the emerging   
   gut-microbiome-brain connection and whether microbes may help treat brain   
   disorders.   
   OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH MICROBES is usually described as an arms race, with   
   humans and bacteria on opposing sides. But, as new research is showing, a   
   better metaphor is "brothers-in-arms." The 10,000 or so different types of   
   microbes, including bacteria,    
   viruses and fungi, that inhabit our bodies form a balanced ecosystem called   
   the microbiome. They are mostly beneficial - as integral to our survival as we   
   are to theirs - helping us to digest food, make vitamins, combat infection and   
   much more.   
       
   Gut bacteria   
   Spotlight Live: The Microbiome & the Brain - A New State of Mind   
   Our microbes, especially those living in the gut, have a powerful influence on   
   the brain, influencing our emotions, our thoughts and even our memory. On   
   January 15, a microbiologist and a neuroscientist will discuss the emerging   
   science of the human    
   microbiome, which is more intimately linked to human health than ever imagined.   
       
   In fact, evidence accumulated in the last five to 10 years shows that these   
   microbes, which predominantly live in the gastrointestinal tract, shape the   
   development and function of the brain. They influence a range of complex human   
   behaviors, including    
   learning and memory, mood and emotion, and appetite and satiety. They have   
   also been linked to disorders of the central nervous system including anxiety,   
   depression, autism and multiple sclerosis, which may be a consequence of an   
   ecosystem that has    
   fallen out of balance.   
   Three researchers at the forefront of research on the microbiome-brain   
   connection recently spoke with The Kavli Foundation about how microbes   
   communicate with the brain and whether we can modify the gut microbiome to   
   treat disorders of the brain and mind.   
   The participants were:   
   TRACY BALE, PhD - is a professor of neuroscience at the School of Veterinary   
   Medicine and Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.   
   She is studying the effects of early prenatal stress on fetal brain   
   development and has shown that    
   they are partly mediated by the microbiome.   
   CHRISTOPHER LOWRY, PhD - is an associate professor in the Department of   
   Integrative Physiology and Center for Neuroscience at the University of   
   Colorado Boulder and director of the Behavioral Neuroendocrinology Laboratory.   
   Lowry is developing new    
   strategies to prevent and treat anxiety and depression, including the use of   
   beneficial microbes that live in the gut.   
   SARKIS MAZMANIAN, PhD - is the Louis & Nelly Soux Professor of Microbiology at   
   the California Institute of Technology and a 2012 MacArthur Fellow. A   
   microbiologist and immunologist by training, Mazmanian studies how the brain,   
   the immune system and the    
   microbiome interact in health and disease, including autism spectrum disorder.   
   The following is an edited transcript of a roundtable discussion, which took   
   place via teleconference on December 1, 2014. The participants have been   
   provided the opportunity to amend or edit their remarks.   
   THE KAVLI FOUNDATION: The idea that the microbes living in our gut have an   
   effect on the brain is a relatively new one. What set you down the path to   
   studying this relationship? And how has your thinking evolved since then?   
   SPOTLIGHT INDEX   
   What prompted your research?   
   What are the field's central questions?   
   How do gut microbes communicate with the brain?   
   Have we seen evidence of the microbiome-brain connection in humans?   
   How does the microbiome affect brain development?   
   Can probiotics boost mental health?   
   How can we keep our microbiome fit?   
   Could the microbiome be involved in neurodegenerative diseases?   
   What's needed to spur progress?   
       
   SARKIS MAZMANIAN: For more than a decade, my laboratory has been studying the   
   interaction between microbes and the immune system. I took this path in the   
   last five years because, through conversations with neuroscientists here at   
   Caltech, I realized    
   there are many parallels between the immune and nervous systems. For example,   
   immune cells and neurons produce and sense many of the same chemicals. Since   
   microbes were having such a profound effect on the immune system, I wondered   
   whether they were    
   having an effect on the brain, too.   
   I thought that we would find that microbes interact with the brain via the   
   immune system. But the data we've generated so far have shown that microbes   
   interact with the brain by producing molecules that impact behavior without   
   altering the immune system.    
   Though we haven't ruled out an immune link, we have discovered mechanisms by   
   which microbial molecules may directly interact with the nervous system.   
   CHRISTOPHER LOWRY: My lab has been studying interactions between bacteria, the   
   nervous system and emotional behavior for about 15 years. We've found, for   
   example, that mice exposed to an inactivated soil bacterium called   
   Mycobacterium vaccae increase    
   production of the neurotransmitter serotonin in the brain, which has   
   antidepressant-like effects.   
   Christopher LowryChristopher Lowry develops new strategies to prevent and   
   treat anxiety and depression, including the use of beneficial gut microbes.   
   The turning point for looking at gut-microbiome-brain interactions in my lab   
   really came with our first collaboration with Rob Knight, who leads the   
   American Gut Project here at CU-Boulder. Together, we've been investigating   
   ways of modulating the immune    
   system to prevent stress-related psychiatric disorders, such as anxiety and   
   mood disorders. Although this work is still in progress, it's clear that the   
   microbiota plays an important role in stress-induced chronic anxiety, at least   
   in animal models.   
      
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