Modulation of gut microbiome in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases: A systematic review
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND AIMS
Microbiota plays an essential role in maintaining body health, through positive influences on metabolic, defensive, and trophic processes and on intercellular communication. Imbalance in intestinal flora, with the proliferation of harmful bacterial species (dysbiosis) is consistently reported in chronic illnesses, including neurodegenerative diseases (ND). Correcting dysbiosis can have a beneficial impact on the symptoms and evolution of ND. This review examines the effects of microbiota modulation through administration of probiotics, prebiotics, symbiotics, or prebiotics' metabolites (postbiotics) in patients with ND like multiple sclerosis (MS), Alzheimer's disease (AD), Parkinson's disease (PD) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
METHODS
PubMed, Web of Science, Medline databases and ClinicalTrials.gov registry searches were performed using pre-/pro-/postbiotics and ND-related terms. Further references were obtained by checking relevant articles.
RESULTS
Although few compared to animal studies, the human studies generally show positive effects on disease-specific symptoms, overall health, metabolic parameters, on oxidative stress and immunological markers. Therapy with probiotics in various forms (mixtures of bacterial strains, fecal microbiota transplant, diets rich in fermented foods) exert favorable effects on patients' mental health, cognition, and quality of life, targeting pathogenetic ND mechanisms and inducing reparatory mechanisms at the…
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Evidence Hub reads this as a systematic review, done in people. Its evidence level is 1 of 5 (Highest · pooled evidence). Pooled evidence from several studies sits at the top of the evidence pyramid.
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