This weeks prompt was to “Describe how microbial communities in the body could influence brain and mental health states. Then, describe how brain and mental health states could influence microbial communities in the body. In what ways might these promote health and/or disease?”
First, looking at microbial communities and mental health states, we see in the Lecture 9a notes Dysbiosis is when there is overgrowth and promotes loss of the intestinal barrier. This is known as a leaky gut and can cause abnormal behavior, stress, and visceral pain.
We also know that there are many gut and brain connections, so it’s easy for one thing to effect another. There are neurotransmitters produced by microbes, and the gut is also known as the second brain. This could easily promote either health or disease depending on the health of the gut and brain since they are connected. In past lectures we have talked about how to keep the gut “healthy” therefore I would assume the Brian would stay relatively healthy when considering the microbes.
