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Alzheimer?s disease: A brief update on the influence of gut microbiota and the impact of functional food.

Alyne Mendonca Marques Ton*, Clarisse M Arpini, Bianca P Campagnaro, Thiago Melo C Pereira, Elisardo C Vasquez

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a degenerative, progressive and disabling disease that affects the central nervous system (CNS), being the mainly cause of dementia worldwide. The symptoms of the AD are due to progressive loss of cholinergic function due to neuronal cell death mainly in the hippocampus cerebral cortex and other different regions of the brain leading to reduction of cholinergic function and clinical deregulation of thought process and memory. It is now known that the development of the disease is the result of these complex environmental and genetic interactions in which gut microbiota plays a special role. Apparently, the inputs from the CNS can modify gut functions, while inputs from the gut to the CNS can modulate specific symptoms. According current evidences, the disturbance of gut microbiome may lead to incremented intestinal and blood-brain barrier permeabilities causing CNS and systemic inflammation, resulting in the occurrence of neurological disorders. Therefore, it has been suggested that diet and specific nutrients can affect the composition of the gut microbiome and may influence the aggregation or production of amyloid proteins. These findings indicate that the modulation of the gut microbiome through specific nutritional interventions as by using prebiotics and probiotics might represent an effective and safe strategy to reduce the level of chronic inflammation and β-amyloid aggregation associated with AD pathology, preventing or improving the clinical symptoms.