The Gut-Brain Axis and the Microbiome

This set of vocabulary flashcards covers the main concepts, researchers, and scientific findings related to the impact of gut bacteria on mental health and neurodegenerative diseases.

Microbiome

The trillions of microbes—including bacteria, viruses, fungi, and single-celled archaea—that live on and in all of us.

Psychobiotics

Also referred to as "mood microbes," these are groups of researchers' proposed treatments that use microbes to improve mental health.

Germ-free mice

Mice used in scientific studies that have never come into contact with microbes and have a completely sterile upbringing.

Vagus nerve

An information superhighway that acts as one of the routes connecting the brain and the gut.

Short-chain fatty acids

Chemicals produced when bacteria break down fiber in the diet, which can have effects throughout the body.

microRNAs

Tiny strips of genetic code used by gut bugs that may alter how DNA works in nerve cells.

Diversity

A rule of thumb for a healthy microbiome, referring to a wide variety of different species living all over the body.

Human genome

The full set of genetic instructions for a human being, made up of $20,000$ instructions called genes.

Second genome

A term for the microbiome, which contains between $2$ million and $20$ million microbial genes.

Trans-poo-sion

A term used within the scientific community for the process of transplanting the microbiome from one subject to another animal.

Anhedonia

A feature of depression involving the loss of interest in activities that are normally found pleasurable.

Motor symptoms

Physical symptoms, such as the characteristic tremor in Parkinson's disease, which appear to be driven or caused by changes in the microbiome.

Personalised medicine

The future of medical practice where a patient's microbiome is assessed alongside other standard health tests like cholesterol.

Human cell percentage

The finding that if you count all the cells in your body, only $43\%$ are human; the rest constitute the microbiome.