The modalities with which the organism establishes its behaviour in the environment that surrounds it also passes through the intestine; this notion was hypothesized but still not confirmed based on the existing interconnections between the vagus nerve, the immune system, short-chain fatty acids and tryptophan. From an evolution standpoint, the babies born from caesarean section have a distinctly different microbiota in early infancy from those born vaginally while, at the other extreme, people who age with considerable health problems tend to show a reduced microbial diversity.

Recently, the intestinal microbiota has been profiled in different application fields including autism, major depression and Parkinson’s disease. There is still a discussion about whether these changes are either the pathophysiology or simply epiphenomenal, a debate to which two Irish researchers, Timothy and Cryan, contributed by publishing an interesting study on Current Opinion in Clinical Nutrition and Metabolic Care.¹

The two authors conclude in this rewiev that some neuropsychiatric disorders could be treated in targeting the microbioma by microbiota transplantation, antibiotics or psychobiotics.

1. Dinan, Timothy G.; Cryan, John F. Current Opinion in Clinical Nutrition and Metabolic Care: November 2015 – Volume 18 – Issue 6 – p 552–558 doi: 10.1097/MCO.0000000000000221