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Andy’s Quick Hits (92): Gut Bacteria Influences Brain Development
You’ve written previously on gut bacteria and the brain — what’s new here?
This latest piece of research looks at brain development in early born babies and that gut bacteria at this age has such a strong effect is surprising!
Oh, wow, that sounds fascinating. Pray tell me more…
Indeed, pre-term babies are at high risk of brain damage and other neurological disorders so this research out of the University of Vienna by Seki et al. is important. What they found is that overgrowth of the gastrointestinal tract with the bacterium Klebsiella is associated with an increased presence of certain immune cells and the development of neurological damage in premature babies.
Other research you have reported on has shown diversity of microbiome is important. What about here?
Well, here we can see that it is a natural balance that is important. Pre-term babies have not had the time to developed a balanced microbiome and this can lead to this being out of whack and impacting other factors — in this case the response of the immune system leading to exacerbating brain damage.
