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Review
. 2021 May 28:13:650047.
doi: 10.3389/fnagi.2021.650047. eCollection 2021.

Roles and Mechanisms of Gut Microbiota in Patients With Alzheimer's Disease

Shaochang Wu  1 , Xia Liu  2 , Ruilai Jiang  1 , Xiumei Yan  1 , Zongxin Ling  3   4
Affiliations
Review

Roles and Mechanisms of Gut Microbiota in Patients With Alzheimer's Disease

Shaochang Wu et al. Front Aging Neurosci. .

Abstract

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common age-related progressive neurodegenerative disease, characterized by a decline in cognitive function and neuronal loss, and is caused by several factors. Numerous clinical and experimental studies have suggested the involvement of gut microbiota dysbiosis in patients with AD. The altered gut microbiota can influence brain function and behavior through the microbiota-gut-brain axis via various pathways such as increased amyloid-β deposits and tau phosphorylation, neuroinflammation, metabolic dysfunctions, and chronic oxidative stress. With no current effective therapy to cure AD, gut microbiota modulation may be a promising therapeutic option to prevent or delay the onset of AD or counteract its progression. Our present review summarizes the alterations in the gut microbiota in patients with AD, the pathogenetic roles and mechanisms of gut microbiota in AD, and gut microbiota-targeted therapies for AD. Understanding the roles and mechanisms between gut microbiota and AD will help decipher the pathogenesis of AD from novel perspectives and shed light on novel therapeutic strategies for AD.

Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease; gut-brain axis; microbiota; probiotics; short chain fatty acids.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

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