AUTHOR=Gallo Antonella , Martone Anna Maria , Liperoti Rosa , Cipriani Maria Camilla , Ibba Francesca , Camilli Sara , Rognoni Fiammetta Maria , Landi Francesco , Montalto Massimo TITLE=Mild cognitive impairment and microbiota: what is known and future perspectives JOURNAL=Frontiers in Medicine VOLUME=11 YEAR=2024 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/medicine/articles/10.3389/fmed.2024.1410246 DOI=10.3389/fmed.2024.1410246 ISSN=2296-858X ABSTRACT=

Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is a heterogeneous condition definable as the intermediate clinical state between normal aging and dementia. As a pre-dementia condition, there is a recent growing interest in the identification of non-invasive markers able to predict the progression from MCI to a more advanced stage of the disease. Previous evidence showed the close link between gut microbiota and neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's (AD) and Parkinson's disease (PD). Conversely, the actual relationship between gut microbiota and MCI is yet to be clarified. In this work, we provide an overview about the current knowledge regarding the role of gut microbiota in the context of MCI, also assessing the potential for microbiota-targeted therapies. Through the review of the most recent studies focusing on this topic, we found evidence of an increase of Bacteroidetes at phylum level and Bacteroides at genus level in MCI subjects with respect to healthy controls and patients with AD. Despite such initial evidence, the definitive identification of a typical microbiota profile associated with MCI is still far from being achieved. These preliminary results, however, are growingly encouraging research on the role of gut microbiota modulation in improving the cognitive status of pre-dementia subjects. To date, few studies evaluated the role of probiotics in MCI subjects, and they showed favorable results, although still biased by small sample size, heterogeneity of study design and short follow-up.