MINI REVIEW article
Front. Immunol.
Sec. Microbial Immunology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2025.1613027
This article is part of the Research TopicThe Gut-Brain Axis: Microbiota-Driven Immune Modulation and its Impact on Neurological HealthView all 3 articles
Role of the Microbiota in Inflammation-Related related Psychiatric Disorders
Provisionally accepted
- 1Shenzhen Longhua District Central Hospital, Shenzhen, China
- 2Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory for Research and Development of Natural Drugs, School of Pharmacy, Guangdong Medical University, Dongguan, China
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The immune interactions within the gut-brain axis represent a critical etiological factor in psychiatric disorders. The gut microbiota and their metabolites serve as biological mediators that regulate neuroimmune activation and suppression in the central nervous system (CNS). During intestinal immune activation, pro-inflammatory cytokines (e.g., IL-6, TNF-α) propagate to the CNS via compromised blood-brain barrier (BBB) integrity or vagal afferent fibers, disrupting neurotransmitter metabolism and inducing microglial hyperactivation, thereby exacerbating neuroinflammation.Microglia, the principal immune sentinels of the CNS, adopt a pro-inflammatory phenotype upon peripheral inflammatory signaling characterized by morphological transformations, excessive chemokine/cytokine production (e.g., IL-1β, IL-6), and dysregulated neurotransmitter dynamics. These mechanisms are strongly implicated in neuropsychiatric conditions such as major depressive disorder, anxiety disorders, autism spectrum disorder, and schizophrenia. Emerging microbiota-targeted therapies, including probiotic interventions and fecal microbiota transplantation, demonstrate therapeutic potential by restoring tryptophan homeostasis and modulating systemic inflammation. This review synthesizes current evidence on the regulatory role of the gut microbiota in inflammation-related psychiatric disorders, specifically emphasizing the microbial modulation of neuroimmune crosstalk and neurotransmitter synthesis (e.g., serotonin, dopamine). Mechanistic insights into microbial metabolites, such as short-chain fatty acids and tryptophan derivatives, are critically evaluated for their dual roles in psychiatric disorders. These findings advance a unified framework for managing psychiatric comorbidities through precision modulation of the gut-brain axis.
Keywords: Gut Microbiota, Central Nervous System, Microglia, psychiatric disorders, Neuroinflammation
Received: 16 Apr 2025; Accepted: 30 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhou, Wu, Jiang, Rao, Gao, Zhao and Wang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Xiaokang Wang, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory for Research and Development of Natural Drugs, School of Pharmacy, Guangdong Medical University, Dongguan, China
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