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REVIEW article

Front. Neurosci.
Sec. Gut-Brain Axis
Volume 18 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fnins.2024.1458918

Role of stress and early-life stress in the pathogeny of inflammatory bowel disease

Provisionally accepted
Bruno Bonaz Bruno Bonaz 1*Valérie Sinniger Valérie Sinniger 1Sonia Pellissier Sonia Pellissier 2
  • 1 Gastroenterology and Liver Diseases, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Grenoble, La Tronche, France
  • 2 Université Savoie Mont Blanc, Chambéry, Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes, France

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Numerous preclinical and clinical studies have shown that stress is one of the main environmental factor playing a significant role in the pathogeny and life-course of bowel diseases. However, stressful events that occur early in life, even during the foetal life, leave different traces within the central nervous system, in area involved in stress response and autonomic network but also in emotion, cognition and memory regulation. Early-life stress can disrupt the prefrontal-amygdala circuit thus favoring an imbalance of the autonomic nervous system and the hypothalamic-pituitary adrenal axis, resulting in anxiety-like behaviors. The down regulation of vagus nerve and cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway favors pro-inflammatory conditions. Recent data suggest that emotional abuse at early life are aggravating risk factors in inflammatory bowel disease. This review aims to unravel the mechanisms that explain the consequences of early life events and stress in the pathophysiology of inflammatory bowel disease and their mental co-morbidities. A review of therapeutic potential will also be covered.

    Keywords: Autonomic Nervous System, Inflammatory Bowel Diseases, early-life stress, stress, Vagus nerve. Abbreviations ACh, acetylcholine, ANS, Autonomic nervous system, CAN, central autonomic network, CAP, cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway

    Received: 03 Jul 2024; Accepted: 23 Aug 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Bonaz, Sinniger and Pellissier. 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: Bruno Bonaz, Gastroenterology and Liver Diseases, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Grenoble, La Tronche, 38043, France

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.