Targeting Microbiota: What Do We Know about It at Present?

Abstract

The human microbiota is a variety of different microorganisms. The composition of microbiota varies from host to host, and it changes during the lifetime. It is known that microbiome may be changed because of a diet, bacteriophages and different processes for example, such as inflammation. Like all other areas of medicine, there is a continuous growth in the area of microbiology. Different microbes can reside in all sites of a human body, even in locations that were previously considered as sterile; for example, liver, pancreas, brain and adipose tissue. Presently one of the etiological factors for liver disease is considered to be pro-inflammatory changes in a host’s organism. There are lot of supporting data about intestinal dysbiosis and increased intestinal permeability and its effect on development of liver disease pointing to the gut–liver axis. The gut–liver axis affects pathogenesis of many liver diseases, such as chronic hepatitis B, chronic hepatitis C, alcoholic liver disease, non-alcoholic liver disease, non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Gut microbiota has been implicated in the regulation of brain health, emphasizing the gut–brain axis. Also, experiments with mice showed that microorganisms have significant effects on the blood–brain barrier integrity. Microbiota can modulate a variety of mechanisms through the gut–liver axis and gut–brain axis. Normal intestinal flora impacts the health of a host in many positive ways, but there is now significant evidence that intestinal microbiota, especially altered, have the ability to impact the pathologies of many diseases through different inflammatory mechanisms. At this point, many of the pathophysiological reactions in case of microbial disbyosis are still unclear.

Irritable Bowel Syndrome and Neurological Deficiencies: Is There A Relationship? The Possible Relevance of the Oxidative Stress Status

“…In this context, aside from the role of pathogenic bacteria, the role of the microbiota was studied in the context of IBS. Considering the active implication of the gut microbiota for body homeostasis and human behavior [74,75], the "second brain" from the gut was found to be the missing link in the communication between the brain and the gut. Balmus et al [76], Mari et al [77] and Actis et al [78] offered a thorough description of the implication of the gut microbiota in IBS and in bowel inflammatory disorders.…”

Microbiota-Gut-Brain Signaling: A Minireview

“…Gut physiology (8,9) Nutrient production and absorption (10) Host development and physiology (11) Energy balancing (12) Metabolic functions (13,14) Immune system functions (15)(16)(17) Inflammatory processes (18) Neurons-brain-behavior system (19)(20)(21)(22) The majority of those studies cited here have demonstrated improvement in the clinical status of patients after targeted intervention influencing the gut microbiota. Similar studies relatively recently have led to definition of the so-called microbiome-gut-brain axis.…”

Nutritional Status and the Influence of the Vegan Diet on the Gut Microbiota and Human Health

“…Under such conditions, the increase in LPS plasma levels, caused by an imbalance in the homeostasis of the microbiota, induces a low intensity systemic inflammation which has shown to be associated with obesity, diabetes, and insulin resistance [73]. Although there is a variety of functional competencies among different intestinal microbial communities, the normal gut microbiota, which is considered the largest organ and the most complex system of microorganisms [74], plays a crucial role in most of the human health aspects and well-being, including digestion of foods, metabolic breakdown of drugs and toxins [75], nutrient metabolism [76,77], antimicrobial protection [26], development and homeostasis of immunity [75,78], the gut-brain axis [79,80], the gut-liver axis [74,81], and gastrointestinal and cardiovascular health [26,82,83]. Today, high-throughput microbiome sequencing technologyies including 16S rRna gene sequencing, whole genome metagenomics, metatranscriptomics, metaproteomics, and metabolomics, offer the most considerable insight into the gut microbiota ecosystem and their metabolic functions [68].…”

“…An imbalance or alteration in microbial composition and activity, also called "gut microbiota dysbiosis", has been associated with several clinical manifestations, although it is not yet clear if dysbiotic patterns are the cause or the consequence of the disease [84]. These disorders include obesity, type-2 diabetes mellitus, neurological and neuropsychiatric cormobidities (Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases, hepatic encephalopathy, autism spectrum disorder, depression, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), allergy, carcinogenesis, autoimmune diseases (celiac disease, systemic lupus erythematosus, rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, atopic dermatitis), infectious diseases (Clostridium difficile infection), cardiovascular disease, and chronic kidney, hepatic, and gastrointestinal diseases [63,66,74,75,81,[85][86][87][88]. Among the most common disorders of the gastrointestinal tract related to gut microbiota dysbiosis are the two major types of inflammatory bowel disease, ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease [75].…”