Animal Models, Gut Microbiota and Brain Diseases

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Animal Models, Gut Microbiota and Brain Diseases is written by Yu Wang and published by Frontiers Media SA. It's available with International Standard Book Number or ISBN identification 2832566871 (ISBN 10) and 9782832566879 (ISBN 13).

Brain diseases are among the major disorders influencing human health. In general, brain diseases include diseases that might be classified as neurological or psychiatric, for example, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, epilepsy, depression, autism, and addiction. Patients with these types of diseases are mainly characterized by abnormal thinking patterns, cognition, emotional states, and behavior. To date, much of the research on these diseases has used animal models. Despite some encouraging findings, the underlying pathophysiology of these diseases is still relatively unclear. In particular, whether some findings are causal, accompanying, or simply irrelevant to the occurrence of brain diseases has great significance for the development of more effective treatments. In this respect, there is a recognized need for more updated perspectives from preclinical investigations in animal models. It is worth mentioning that since it was first reported in 2011, the reduction of anxiety-like behavior and the changes of neurochemicals in the brain were observed in mice with the absence of gut microbes, resulting in a surge of interest in the role of the gut microbiota in health. And the new concept of microbiota-gut-brain (MGB) axis was formally put forward in 2012, which revealed the ways in which peripheral systems and organs affect the brain, and showed that the periphery and the center can be closely linked through the carriers of gut microbiota. After more than a decade of development, animal models provide an important vehicle for exploring the role of gut microbiota in the pathology of brain diseases, potential therapeutic approaches and diagnostic tools. However, extending these findings to the diagnosis and treatment of human brain diseases still faces great challenges.