Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2025 May 13:15:1587463.
doi: 10.3389/fcimb.2025.1587463. eCollection 2025.

The progress of the microbe-gut-brain axis in sepsis-associated encephalopathy

Chen He  1   2 , Hui Shi  2 , Zhijie Yu  3 , Chunhan Ma  1 , Zhiqiang Jiao  1 , Jin Li  1 , Fei Yang  1   2
Affiliations
Review

The progress of the microbe-gut-brain axis in sepsis-associated encephalopathy

Chen He et al. Front Cell Infect Microbiol. .

Abstract

Sepsis-associated encephalopathy (SAE) is a diffuse brain dysfunction that is caused by sepsis without direct brain injury or central nervous system infection and is manifested as anxiety-like behavior and cognitive dysfunction. The microbiota-gut-brain axis, on the other hand, is a bidirectional communication network between the gut and the brain that modulates host behavior and cognitive function in many ways and is of central importance in the preservation of general health and homeostasis. Given the functional roles attributed to the microbiota-gut-brain axis (MGBA), contemporary research is progressively focused on elucidating relationships between SAE and alterations in compositional and quantitative intestinal microbiota profiles. This review consolidates interdisciplinary insights from immunology, microbiology, neuroendocrine signaling, and neural pathophysiology to evaluate the mechanistic contribution of the MGBA to the relief of cognitive impairments in SAE. By unifying these perspectives, with the aim of preventing or enhancing SAE-related neurological dysfunction for the formulation of MGBA-targeted therapeutic strategies.

Keywords: gut microbiota; microbe-gut-brain axis; neuroendocrine; neuroimmune; sepsis-associated encephalopathy.

PubMed Disclaimer

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.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Different states of the microbe-gut-brain axis.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Four pathways through which the gut-brain axis transmits inflammatory signals.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

References

    1. Basavaraju S. M., Mudhol S., Peddha M. S., Ud Din Wani S., Krishna K. L., Mehdi S., et al. . (2023). Nanoemulsion-based piperine to enhance bioavailability for the treatment of LPS-induced depression-like behaviour in mice. Neurosci. Lett. 814, 137441. doi: 10.1016/j.neulet.2023.137441 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Bian X., Yang L., Jiang D., Grippin A. J., Ma Y., Wu S., et al. . (2024). Regulation of cerebral blood flow boosts precise brain targeting of vinpocetine-derived ionizable-lipidoid nanoparticles. Nat. Commun. 15, 3987. doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-48461-4 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bostick J. W., Schonhoff A. M., Mazmanian S. K. (2022). Gut microbiome-mediated regulation of neuroinflammation. Curr. Opin. Immunol. 76, 102177. doi: 10.1016/j.coi.2022.102177 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Centner F.-S., Wenz H., Oster M. E., Dally F.-J., Sauter-Servaes J., Pelzer T., et al. . (2024). Sepsis and delayed cerebral ischemia are associated and have a cumulative effect on poor functional outcome in aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage. Front. Neurol. 15. doi: 10.3389/fneur.2024.1393989 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Chen L., Ke H., Zhang Y., Jin P., Liu X., Hong G., et al. . (2022). Orai1 overexpression improves sepsis-induced T-lymphocyte immunosuppression and acute organ dysfunction in mice. Heliyon 8, e12082. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2022.e12082 - DOI - PMC - PubMed

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources