Psychobiotics and the Manipulation of Bacteria–Gut–Brain Signals
Psychobiotics were previously defined as live bacteria (probiotics) which, when ingested, confer mental health benefits through interactions with commensal gut bacteria. We expand this definition to encompass prebiotics, which enhance the growth of beneficial gut bacteria. We review probiotic and pr...
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Published in | Trends in neurosciences (Regular ed.) Vol. 39; no. 11; pp. 763 - 781 |
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Main Authors | , , , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
England
Elsevier Ltd
01.11.2016
Elsevier Sequoia S.A Elsevier Applied Science Publishing |
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | Psychobiotics were previously defined as live bacteria (probiotics) which, when ingested, confer mental health benefits through interactions with commensal gut bacteria. We expand this definition to encompass prebiotics, which enhance the growth of beneficial gut bacteria. We review probiotic and prebiotic effects on emotional, cognitive, systemic, and neural variables relevant to health and disease. We discuss gut–brain signalling mechanisms enabling psychobiotic effects, such as metabolite production. Overall, knowledge of how the microbiome responds to exogenous influence remains limited. We tabulate several important research questions and issues, exploration of which will generate both mechanistic insights and facilitate future psychobiotic development. We suggest the definition of psychobiotics be expanded beyond probiotics and prebiotics to include other means of influencing the microbiome. |
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Bibliography: | ObjectType-Article-2 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-3 content type line 23 ObjectType-Review-1 ObjectType-Article-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 |
ISSN: | 0166-2236 1878-108X |
DOI: | 10.1016/j.tins.2016.09.002 |