Vagus Nerve and Underlying Impact on the Gut Microbiota-Brain Axis in Behavior and Neurodegenerative Diseases

Author: Yimin Han#1, Boya Wang#2, Han Gao3, Chengwei He3, Rongxuan Hua4, Chen Liang4, Sitian Zhang4, Ying Wang5, Shuzi Xin3, Jingdong Xu3
Affiliation:
1 Department of Oral Medicine, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100069, People's Republic of China.
2 Undergraduate Student of 2018 Eight Program of Clinical Medicine, Peking University People's Hospital, Beijing, 100083, People's Republic of China.
3 Department of Physiology and Pathophysiology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100069, People's Republic of China.
4 Department of Clinical Medicine, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100069, People's Republic of China.
5 Department of Dermatology, Beijing Tong Ren Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100069, People's Republic of China.
Conference/Journal: J Inflamm Res
Date published: 2022 Nov 9
Other: Volume ID: 15 , Pages: 6213-6230 , Special Notes: doi: 10.2147/JIR.S384949. , Word Count: 202


The gut microbiota is the most abundant and diverse microbiota in the human body and the vagus nerve is the most widely distributed and complex nerve in the body, both of them are essential in maintaining homeostasis. The most important phenomenon is how they coordinate to regulate functions, which has attracted the great attention of scientists. The academic literature on the correlation with a host of intestinal diseases and even systemic diseases has revealed the bidirectional communication between the gut microbiota and the brain, which can be carried out via multiple patterns. In the review, firstly, we have a general overview of the gut microbiota and the gut microbiota-brain axis. Secondly, according to the distribution characteristics of the vagus nerve, we analyzed and summarized its function in the intestinal tract. At the same time, we have summarized the underlying mechanism of some behavior changes such as depressive and anxiety-like behaviors and related neurodegenerative diseases caused by the vagus nerve and intestinal microecological environment disorders, and then we also analyzed inconsistency of the experimental evidence in order to propose novel strategies for the clinical practice.

Keywords: behavior; brain; gut microbiota; gut microbiota-brain axis; neurodegenerative diseases; vagus nerve.

PMID: 36386584 PMCID: PMC9656367 DOI: 10.2147/JIR.S384949

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