Padhi · Frontiers in neuroscience 2022 · narrative review · n=?

Mechanistic Insights Into Gut Microbiome Dysbiosis-Mediated Neuroimmune Dysregulation and Protein Misfolding and Clearance in the Pathogenesis of Chronic Neurodegenerative Disorders.

Cited 75 times in the scientific literature.

Level 5 - mechanism / opinion, no new human data

Narrative review of mechanistic pathways without new empirical human data or systematic review methodology

PubMed 35281490 · doi:10.3389/fnins.2022.836605 · record verified 2026-08-27

What was done

This is a narrative review synthesizing literature on the microbiota-gut-brain axis in chronic neurodegenerative disorders, primarily Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease. The authors examined proposed biological mechanisms linking gut microbial dysbiosis—such as alterations in richness and metabolite production—to neuroimmune dysregulation, enteric nervous system pathology, and protein misfolding and clearance.

What was found

The abstract reports no quantitative data, sample sizes, or effect estimates. It summarizes qualitative mechanistic pathways, describing how dysbiosis, increased endotoxin release, and decreased beneficial metabolites are associated with altered intestinal and blood-brain barrier permeability, systemic inflammation, and subsequent neuroinflammation.

Why it matters

It provides a conceptual overview of the multi-step pathways through which gut dysbiosis may contribute to the prodromal and progressive phases of neurodegenerative disorders, framing targets for potential biomarker or therapeutic development.

Limits

The paper is a narrative review lacking a systematic search methodology, risk-of-bias assessment, or pooled statistical analysis. The abstract does not report primary human data, and proposed mechanistic links remain largely theoretical or derived from observational and preclinical models without established causal directionality in humans.

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