The intestinal barrier is multi-tiered, including the mucus layer produced by specialized secretory goblet cells, the epithelial layer, and the underlying immune system. At this interface, appropriate host-microbiome interactions play an important role in maintaining intestinal homeostasis (e.g., barrier function and integrity), which is fundamentally important to health. Intestinal homeostasis is tightly regulated by a variety of signaling mechanisms, and the endocannabinoidome (eCBome), a complex lipid signaling system that reciprocally interacts with the gut microbiota is a critical nexus involved in such control. However, the interaction among gut microbes, intestinal barrier, and eCBome can be disrupted by several environmental factors, one in particular being diet. Indeed, Westernization of lifestyle, characterized by diets enriched in fat and sugar and low in dietary fibers has been associated with a deviated gut microbiota, disrupted intestinal barrier, and a diverged eCBome profile. Among those, the impairments in the mucus barrier can be a causal factor leading to the development of chronic inflammatory diseases such as metabolic diseases, intestinal inflammation, and cancer, among others.
Over the past decade, studies in both animals and humans have underlined the implication of gut microbiota in health and chronic inflammatory diseases. Several microbiota-targeted interventions including psychobiotic supplements, dietary approaches, and fecal microbiota transplants have been considered as therapeutic strategies to alleviate or prevent chronic inflammatory diseases by re-establishing beneficial microbes at the expense of those seen as detrimental. However, these therapeutic strategies are not yet optimal and further investigations are required to discover potentially new mechanisms more efficient at influencing metabolic health by targeting the intestinal barrier. In this context, our `slimy partnerĀ“, the mucus barrier, deserves particular attention since it can directly contribute to maintaining homeostasis of the gut ecological microenvironment and host health. Up to now, there is a gap in the knowledge of the active bidirectional communication between the gut microbiota and the mucus barrier, the gut microbiota and the intestinal eCBome, and the ability of the host to select its commensal microbiota. The goal of this Research Topic is therefore to emphasize our current understanding of the mechanisms implicated in mucus-microbiota homeostasis. Aligned with this we seek to further our understanding of the interplay between the microbiota, the mucus and the underlying epithelial and immune cells as a means to identify novel therapeutic approaches targeting chronic inflammatory diseases.
The scope of the Research topic is to underline the mechanisms implicated in the modulation of the active bidirectional link between the microbiota and the mucus barrier. We also investigate how several factors including dietary approaches, bioactive lipids and molecules of the eCBome, bacterial metabolites, bile acids, and drug therapies, among others, are involved in maintaining intestinal barrier function and structure. Both scientific articles and reviews will be accepted in this regard.
Keywords:
gut microbiota, intestinal microbiota, mucus interactions, microbiome, gut health, mucosal barrier, mucosal immunity, intestinal barrier, microbial dysbiosis, mucus layer, gastrointestinal tract
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.
The intestinal barrier is multi-tiered, including the mucus layer produced by specialized secretory goblet cells, the epithelial layer, and the underlying immune system. At this interface, appropriate host-microbiome interactions play an important role in maintaining intestinal homeostasis (e.g., barrier function and integrity), which is fundamentally important to health. Intestinal homeostasis is tightly regulated by a variety of signaling mechanisms, and the endocannabinoidome (eCBome), a complex lipid signaling system that reciprocally interacts with the gut microbiota is a critical nexus involved in such control. However, the interaction among gut microbes, intestinal barrier, and eCBome can be disrupted by several environmental factors, one in particular being diet. Indeed, Westernization of lifestyle, characterized by diets enriched in fat and sugar and low in dietary fibers has been associated with a deviated gut microbiota, disrupted intestinal barrier, and a diverged eCBome profile. Among those, the impairments in the mucus barrier can be a causal factor leading to the development of chronic inflammatory diseases such as metabolic diseases, intestinal inflammation, and cancer, among others.
Over the past decade, studies in both animals and humans have underlined the implication of gut microbiota in health and chronic inflammatory diseases. Several microbiota-targeted interventions including psychobiotic supplements, dietary approaches, and fecal microbiota transplants have been considered as therapeutic strategies to alleviate or prevent chronic inflammatory diseases by re-establishing beneficial microbes at the expense of those seen as detrimental. However, these therapeutic strategies are not yet optimal and further investigations are required to discover potentially new mechanisms more efficient at influencing metabolic health by targeting the intestinal barrier. In this context, our `slimy partnerĀ“, the mucus barrier, deserves particular attention since it can directly contribute to maintaining homeostasis of the gut ecological microenvironment and host health. Up to now, there is a gap in the knowledge of the active bidirectional communication between the gut microbiota and the mucus barrier, the gut microbiota and the intestinal eCBome, and the ability of the host to select its commensal microbiota. The goal of this Research Topic is therefore to emphasize our current understanding of the mechanisms implicated in mucus-microbiota homeostasis. Aligned with this we seek to further our understanding of the interplay between the microbiota, the mucus and the underlying epithelial and immune cells as a means to identify novel therapeutic approaches targeting chronic inflammatory diseases.
The scope of the Research topic is to underline the mechanisms implicated in the modulation of the active bidirectional link between the microbiota and the mucus barrier. We also investigate how several factors including dietary approaches, bioactive lipids and molecules of the eCBome, bacterial metabolites, bile acids, and drug therapies, among others, are involved in maintaining intestinal barrier function and structure. Both scientific articles and reviews will be accepted in this regard.
Keywords:
gut microbiota, intestinal microbiota, mucus interactions, microbiome, gut health, mucosal barrier, mucosal immunity, intestinal barrier, microbial dysbiosis, mucus layer, gastrointestinal tract
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.