The spinal cord-gut-immune axis as a master regulator of health and neurological function after spinal cord injury.

The spinal cord-gut-immune axis as a master regulator of health and neurological function after spinal cord injury. Exp Neurol. 2019 Oct 22;:113085 Authors: Kigerl KA, Zane K, Adams K, Sullivan MB, Popovich PG Abstract Most spinal cord injury (SCI) research programs focus only on the injured spinal cord with the goal of restoring locomotor function by overcoming mechanisms of cell death or axon regeneration failure. Given the importance of the spinal cord as a locomotor control center and the public perception that paralysis is the defining feature of SCI, this "spinal-centric" focus is logical. Unfortunately, such a focus likely will not yield new discoveries that reverse other devastating consequences of SCI including cardiovascular and metabolic disease, bladder/bowel dysfunction and infection. The current review considers how SCI changes the physiological interplay between the spinal cord, the gut and the immune system. A suspected culprit in causing many of the pathological manifestations of impaired spinal cord-gut-immune axis homeostasis is the gut microbiota. After SCI, the composition of the gut microbiota changes, creating a chronic state of gut "dysbiosis". To date, much of what we know about gut dysbiosis was learned from 16S-based taxonomic profiling studies that reveal changes in the composition and abundance of various bacteria. However, this approach has limitations and creates taxonomic "blindspots". Notably, only ba...
Source: Experimental Neurology - Category: Neurology Authors: Tags: Exp Neurol Source Type: research