The Gut-Brain-Immune Axis in Autism Spectrum Disorders: A State-of-Art Report

Frontiers in Psychiatry

Psychiatry

Eleonora Beltrami¹  Luca Gigliotti²  Elena Boggio²  Roberta Rolla³  Umberto Dianzani³  Chiara Puricelli³  Roberto Keller⁴ 

[1] Clinical Biochemistry Laboratory, Ospedale Maggiore della Carità, Novara, Italy;Department of Health Sciences, Università del Piemonte Orientale, Novara, Italy;Department of Health Sciences, Università del Piemonte Orientale, Novara, Italy;Clinical Biochemistry Laboratory, Ospedale Maggiore della Carità, Novara, Italy;Mental Health Department, Adult Autism Center, ASL Città di Torino, Turin, Italy;

关键词: microbiota;    dysbiosis;    autism spectrum disorder;    gut-brain axis;    neuroinflammation;    fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT);    probiotics;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fpsyt.2021.755171

 received in 2021-08-08, accepted in 2021-12-29,  发布年份 2022

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

The interest elicited by the large microbial population colonizing the human gut has ancient origins and has gone through a long evolution during history. However, it is only in the last decades that the introduction of high-throughput technologies has allowed to broaden this research field and to disentangle the numerous implications that gut microbiota has in health and disease. This comprehensive ecosystem, constituted mainly by bacteria but also by fungi, parasites, and viruses, is proven to be involved in several physiological and pathological processes that transcend the intestinal homeostasis and are deeply intertwined with apparently unrelated body systems, such as the immune and the nervous ones. In this regard, a novel speculation is the relationship between the intestinal microbial flora and the pathogenesis of some neurological and neurodevelopmental disorders, including the clinical entities defined under the umbrella term of autism spectrum disorders. The bidirectional interplay has led researchers to coin the term gut-brain-immune system axis, subverting the theory of the brain as an immune-privileged site and underscoring the importance of this reciprocal influence already from fetal life and especially during the pre- and post-natal neurodevelopmental process. This revolutionary theory has also unveiled the possibility to modify the gut microbiota as a way to treat and even to prevent different kinds of pathologies. In this sense, some attempts have been made, ranging from probiotic administration to fecal microbiota transplantation, with promising results that need further elaboration. This state-of-art report will describe the main aspects regarding the human gut microbiome and its specific role in the pathogenesis of autism and its related disorders, with a final discussion on the therapeutic and preventive strategies aiming at creating a healthy intestinal microbial environment, as well as their safety and ethical implications.

【 授权许可】

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Copyright © 2022 Puricelli, Rolla, Gigliotti, Boggio, Beltrami, Dianzani and Keller.