They discover intestinal bacteria in the most unexpected place of our body



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Scientists say that, given where they are, microorganisms can have a great influence on our mental state.

Scientists say that it is possible that intestinal microorganisms spread in the part of our body. considered more protected: the human brain. And that even the healthiest humans can have them as guests in the brain, reports the journal Science. These are mainly microorganisms belonging to three groups of bacteria: Firmicutes, Proteobacteria and Bacteroides

. US researchers released their findings at the annual meeting of the Society of Neurosciences in San Diego, California, USA. .) The neuroanatomist Rosalinda Roberts, of the University of Alabama in Birmingham (USA), showed images of bacteria that apparently enter and inhabit the cells of the human brain. Researchers do not yet dare to determine whether these bacteria are beneficial or harmful to the brain.

Microbes in All Samples

Roberts reported that his team found bar-shaped objects five years ago. unidentified in images – high resolution and electron microscopic – of brain tissue sections of people who have just died. For years, specialists have ignored these elements, but in 2018, a bacteriologist badured the neuroanatomist that it was a bacterium.

Roberts' team that studies brain pathologies of people with schizophrenia examined tissues of 34 people – about half in good health and half of those with the aforementioned disease – have found the presence of microorganisms in all samples.

Preferred Areas of Brain Bacteria

They showed subsequent observations of scientists: Bacteria usually live in star-shaped cells called astrocytes, which interact with neurons . The microbes are clustered in and around the ends of the astrocytes surrounding the blood vessels in the blood-brain barrier.

Microorganisms also appear to be more abundant around the long projections of neurons involved in the fat called myelin. Roberts can not explain these preferences, but he discusses the possibility that bacteria are attracted to fat and sugar in these parts of the brain.

Experiments on mice

Roberts thought that the bacterium in the intestine could have infiltrated the brain through the blood vessels during the hours pbaded between the death of a person and the withdrawal of the brain.

He therefore examined the brain of healthy mice, which were badyzed immediately after slaughter.

They all contained bacteria and even more. Subsequently, Roberts observed the brains of germ-free mice, which had been carefully cultivated so that they were not surrounded by microbial life, and discovered that their brain tissues were all clean.

Possible contamination

of the bacteria we harbor live in the intestine. It is possible that microorganisms reach the brain through the blood vessels, through the nerves of the intestine or even through the nose.

The specialist acknowledges that more experiments are still needed to rule out any possibility of contamination because the tissues could have been contaminated with air by the microbes left on the surgical instruments at the time of treatment. brain extraction.

Deadly danger or contribution to the immune system

This discovery is extremely important for drugs because, in case of access to the brain, bacteria and viruses can cause inflammations threatening the immune system. life threatening. The possibility that microorganisms play a key role in our mental health status is also under study. However, for now, they have no evidence that these microorganisms cause inflammation.

On the other hand, the psychiatrist of the University of Maryland, Teodor Postolache, said about this new discovery that he was not "very surprised that d & # 39; other things can live in the brain ", but," if that was the case, it would be revolutionary ". According to Postolache, if these common intestinal bacteria are a beneficial presence around brain cells, they could play a key role in regulating the brain's immune activity.

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