Gut-Brain Axis Correlates, Mediators, and Moderators of Stress Resilience or Vulnerability

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Background

In both animals and humans, the physiological and psychological stress response varies and is multiply determined. The complex interplay between the gut and brain can help to determine the strength and duration of the stress response. Emerging evidence implicates gut microbes, their metabolite byproducts, and gut structure and function (i.e., motility, intestinal permeability) as key correlates, modulators, and determinants of stress-related psychological and physiological resilience or vulnerability. In addition, the neuroendocrine (e.g., vagal) and immune systems convey stress signals to and from the gut and brain. How the gut-brain axis responds to stress can set health trajectories, especially in the context of frequent, repetitive, or chronic stress. In short, the gut is a critical frontier in the treatment and prevention of chronic, stress-related diseases (e.g., neurodegenerative diseases, cardiovascular disease, autoimmune disease).

For this research topic, we invite submissions of preclinical and clinical findings that will advance current knowledge of gut-brain axis stress signaling and resulting mental and physical health outcomes. We welcome studies that explore psychosocial, phenotypic, or physiological correlates, moderators, and mediators of stress’s effect on the gastrointestinal environment, brain, mood, or behavior. We are particularly interested in paradigms that 1.) utilize stress exposure to 2.) measure barrier integrity (i.e., intestinal permeability) or motility or that leverage the gut microbiome, metabolome, and/or metagenome, in order to 3.) find correlates between these gut-specific phenotypes and brain-specific outcomes (e.g. neuroendocrine or immune signaling, brain imaging, blood-brain barrier permeability, mood, or behavior). Stressor type (e.g., social stressor vs. non-social stressor), “dose,” and duration should be considered and contextualized. We are also interested in experimental work featuring psychobiotic administration (probiotic, prebiotic, antibiotic) to blunt stress’s psychological or physiological effects. Again, the dose and duration should be considered and contextualized, along with potential mediators and moderators of the intervention’s effects. More succinctly, possible submission types include, but are not limited to:

• Identification of novel gut-related biomarkers (singular or composite) that predict stress responses, psychiatric symptoms (e.g., anhedonia, fatigue), or response to psychiatric medication, especially in diverse populations

• Interrogation of gut or blood-brain barrier integrity in response to stress or in relation to stress-related psychiatric symptoms

• Exploration of interventions to modulate the gut or blood-brain barrier, as well as their impact on some aspect of the stress response

• Investigation of probiotics or prebiotic administration as a primary or adjunctive modulator of the stress response or specific stress-related psychiatric symptoms.

• Comparison of stress types and their effect on the gut-brain axis

Keywords: Gut microbiome, intestinal permeability, gut-brain axis, stress, neuroendocrine, immune

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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