Cited by 1,111Gut microbiota and healthProbiotics and Fermented FoodsGastrointestinal motility and disorders

The microbiome-gut-brain axis in health and disease

Open access
Dinan, Timothy G., Cryan, John F.·2017·Gastroenterology Clinics of North America

Abstract

Gut microbes are capable of producing most neurotransmitters found in the human brain. Evidence is accumulating to support the view that gut microbes influence central neurochemistry and behavior. Irritable bowel syndrome is regarded as the prototypic disorder of the brain-gut-microbiota axis that can be responsive to probiotic therapy. Translational studies indicate that certain bacteria may have an impact on stress responses and cognitive functioning. Manipulating the gut microbiota with psychobiotics, prebiotics, or even antibiotics offers a novel approach to altering brain function and treating gut-brain axis disorders, such as depression and autism.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1016/j.gtc.2016.09.007

Cites

60 of 60 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • During gut pathologies with increased permeability of the intestinal barrier, translocation of bacterial products can increase production of cytokines and impact the blood-brain barrier, leading to more intense harmful effects.

    “during gut pathologies with increased permeability of the intestinal barrier, the translocation of bacterial products can increase the production of cytokines and impact the blood-brain barrier (BBB), leading to more intense harmful effects (37).”

    From The Role of Short-Chain Fatty Acids From Gut Microbiota in Gut-Brain Communication (2020) · cites this paper as [37]

    The IBS as prototype section reports rodent evidence that stress alters the gut barrier, allowing LPS into the bloodstream and stimulating inflammatory cytokine production. Brain-gut-microbiota communication says cytokines can signal across the BBB and influence brain areas, but does not say this process damages the BBB or leads to more intense harmful effects. The paper also cautions that the proposed inflammatory mechanism has not been definitively demonstrated in depression; no page numbers were available in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.86)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • The microbiota is altered in CNS diseases, which aggravates the condition, and/or its modulation might prevent or improve the development and progression of CNS pathologies.

    “The central hypothesis is supported by experimental and clinical evidence that the microbiota is altered in such diseases, which aggravates the condition, and/or its modulation might prevent or improve the development and progression of CNS pathologies (17, 19, 29, 33–37).”

    From The Role of Short-Chain Fatty Acids From Gut Microbiota in Gut-Brain Communication (2020) · cites this paper as [37]

    The Parkinson’s disease and Autism sections (pages not provided) report altered microbiota in patients and improvement of abnormal behaviours after microbiota treatment in an animal model. But the paper cautions that much of the human evidence is correlational and says there is no clear indication of treatment efficacy in diseased populations. It does not establish that microbiota changes aggravate CNS diseases generally or that modulation prevents their progression. (LLM, conf=0.84)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • Several brain disorders have been linked to imbalances in the microbial composition of the gut.

    “several brain disorders have been linked to imbalances in the microbial composition of the gut (17, 19, 29, 33–37)”
  • Gut microbes can produce certain neurotransmitters and influence the central neurochemistry of the brain and thus human behavior.

    “Gut microbes have, for example, been found to be capable of producing certain neurotransmitters and of influencing the central neurochemistry of the brain and thus human behavior (136).”
  • Leaky gut causes translocation of lipopolysaccharide of Gram-negative bacteria, which results in activation of the immune system (Toll-like receptors) and production of pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-6, IFN-γ, CRP, TNF-α).

    “It causes a translocation of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) of Gram-negative bacteria which results in activation of the immune system (Toll-like receptors -TLRs) and production of pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-6, IFN-γ, CRP, TNF-α) [1,5,44].”

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Research works printed but not linked: 4

  1. [8]8. Svensson E, Horvath-Puho E, Thomsen RW, et al. Vagotomy and subsequent risk of Parkinson's disease. Annals of neurology. Oct 2015;78(4):522-529.
  2. [29]29. Sondheimer JM, Clark DA. Gastric pH in healthy preterm infants -effect of age and feeding type. Gastroenterology. 1985 1985;88(5):1593-1593.
  3. [45]45. Chini B, Leonzino M, Braida D, Sala M. Learning about oxytocin: pharmacologic and behavioral issues. Biological psychiatry. Sep 1 2014;76(5):360-366.
  4. [46]46. Shen H. Neuroscience: The hard science of oxytocin. Nature. Jun 25 2015;522(7557):410-412.

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Dinan, T. G., & Cryan, J. F.
Affiliations
University College Cork (IE)
Corresponding author
Dinan, Timothy G.
Venue
Gastroenterology Clinics of North America
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2017-03
Volume
46
Issue
1
Pages
77-89
ISSN
0889-8553 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2568352511
Cited by
1,111
References
60
Citations by year
2026: 118 · 2025: 146 · 2024: 147 · 2023: 111 · 2022: 145 · 2021: 167 · 2020: 115 · 2019: 94 · 2018: 48 · 2017: 19
FWCI
7.08
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Gastroenterology Clinics of North America (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Arrow@dit (Dublin Institute of Technology) (acceptedVersion)
Funders
  • Alimentary Pharmabiotic Centre (SFI/12/RC/2273)
  • Health Research Board of Ireland (HRA_POR/2011/23, HRA_POR/2012/32)
  • European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Gut microbiota and health
  • Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Food Science › Probiotics and Fermented Foods
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Gastroenterology › Gastrointestinal motility and disorders
Keywords
gut-brain axis, gut microbiota, neurotransmitters, tryptophan, serotonin, GABA, Bifidobacterium, lactobacilli, irritable bowel syndrome, probiotics, psychobiotics, prebiotics, vagus nerve, short-chain fatty acids, cytokines, depression, autism spectrum disorder, Parkinson's disease, stress response, cognitive function
MeSH terms
Gastrointestinal Microbiome, Animals, Autistic Disorder, Brain, Depression, Fatty Acids, Volatile, gamma-Aminobutyric Acid, Humans, Parkinson Disease, Tryptophan, Vagus Nerve, Cytokines, Probiotics, Gastrointestinal Tract, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Prebiotics

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review