Researchers in psychiatry and neuroscience are increasingly recognizing the importance of gut-brain communication in mental health. Based on a foundation of animal studies demonstrating the vital role for microbiota-brain communication in brain development, behavior, and brain function over the life span, clinical studies have started to consider the microbiome in psychiatric disorders. Work to date by our group and others suggest that microbiota-immune-brain signaling is an important pathway that infuences brain structure, gene expression of stress-related and plasticity-related genes, stress-reactivity, and behaviour. Ongoing work in our lab is interested in determining the importance of peripheral T cells in the maturation of the microbiome, microbe and host metabolism, and neurodevelopment. The composition, diversity and function of commensal microbes is influenced by genetic, lifestyle, and environmental factors. Our increasing knowledge on pathways and involved mediators along the gut-brain axis has revolutionized our understanding of brain-body interaction. Intestinal bacteria act along the gut-brain axis in part by modifying the immune response. On the other side, bacteria produce neuroactive mediators and can modulate neuronal function, plasticity and behavior. Our recent research has focused on the bidirectional communication between microbiota and T cells in mouse models and in clinical popupations. This presentation will highlight this work in the context of recent developments linking microbiota to behaviour and brain function. Understanding the influence of microbiota-brain axis on brain function and behaviour is essential to understanding how host-microbe interactions are essential regulators of both physical and mental health. Understanding the basis of these differences, their functional impact, and mapping them to clinical symptoms, severity, and host biology is the next step in this fast-moving area of research. Moveover, the opportunity to harness our knowledge of the microbiome to develop novel therapies and to improve outcomes in psychiatry will be discussed.
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