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Microglia in Microbiota-Gut-Brain Axis: A Hub in Epilepsy

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Abstract

There is growing concern about the role of the microbiota-gut-brain axis in neurological illnesses, and it makes sense to consider microglia as a critical component of this axis in the context of epilepsy. Microglia, which reside in the central nervous system, are dynamic guardians that monitor brain homeostasis. Microglia receive information from the gut microbiota and function as hubs that may be involved in triggering epileptic seizures. Vagus nerve bridges the communication in the axis. Essential axis signaling molecules, such as gamma-aminobutyric acid, 5-hydroxytryptamin, and short-chain fatty acids, are currently under investigation for their participation in drug-resistant epilepsy (DRE). In this review, we explain how vagus nerve connects the gut microbiota to microglia in the brain and discuss the emerging concepts derived from this interaction. Understanding microbiota-gut-brain axis in epilepsy brings hope for DRE therapies. Future treatments can focus on the modulatory effect of the axis and target microglia in solving DRE.

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Funding

This work was supported by grants from the Natural Science Fund of Guangdong Province (2017A030313597), Natural Science Fund of Guangzhou in Basic and Applied Research (202201010875), and Southern Medical University (S202012121088S, X202012121354, 202212121027, S202212121113S).

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  1. Yuyang Liu, Ningkang Jia, and Chuqi Tang contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurosurgery, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, 510515, China

    Yuyang Liu, Ningkang Jia, Chuqi Tang, Hao Long & Jun Wang

  2. The First Clinical Medicine College, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China

    Yuyang Liu, Chuqi Tang, Hao Long & Jun Wang

  3. Neural Networks Surgery Team, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China

    Yuyang Liu, Ningkang Jia, Chuqi Tang & Jun Wang

  4. The Second Clinical Medicine College, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China

    Ningkang Jia

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JW: conceptualization; JW, YL, and NJ: methodology; JW, YL, CT: formal analysis; JW, YL, and NJ: investigation; JW, YL, and N: writing—original draft; YL, CT: visualization; JW, HL: supervision; JW: funding acquisition.

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Liu, Y., Jia, N., Tang, C. et al. Microglia in Microbiota-Gut-Brain Axis: A Hub in Epilepsy. Mol Neurobiol (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12035-024-04022-w

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