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Fish Have a Brain Microbiome. Could Humans Have One Too?
https://www.quantamagazine.org/fish-have-a-brain-microbiome-could-humans-have-one-too-20241202/The discovery that other vertebrates have healthy, microbial brains is fueling the still controversial possibility that we might have them as well.
acteria are in, around and all over us. They thrive in almost every corner of the planet, from deep-sea hydrothermal vents to high up in the clouds, to the crevices of your ears, mouth, nose and gut. But scientists have long assumed that bacteria can’t survive in the human brain. The powerful blood-brain barrier, the thinking goes, keeps the organ mostly free from outside invaders. But are we sure that a healthy human brain doesn’t have a microbiome of its own?
Over the last decade, initial studies have presented conflicting evidence. The idea has remained controversial, given the difficulty of obtaining healthy, uncontaminated human brain tissue that could be used to study possible microbial inhabitants.
Recently, a study published in Science Advances provided the strongest evidence yet (opens a new tab) that a brain microbiome can and does exist in healthy vertebrates — fish, specifically. Researchers at the University of New Mexico discovered communities of bacteria thriving in salmon and trout brains. Many of the microbial species have special adaptations that allow them to survive in brain tissue, as well as techniques to cross the protective blood-brain barrier.
Matthew Olm (opens a new tab), a physiologist who studies the human microbiome at the University of Colorado, Boulder and was not involved with the study, is “inherently skeptical” of the idea that populations of microbes could live in the brain, he said. But he found the new research convincing. “This is concrete evidence that brain microbiomes do exist in vertebrates,” he said. “And so the idea that humans have a brain microbiome is not outlandish.”
Over the last decade, initial studies have presented conflicting evidence. The idea has remained controversial, given the difficulty of obtaining healthy, uncontaminated human brain tissue that could be used to study possible microbial inhabitants.
Recently, a study published in Science Advances provided the strongest evidence yet (opens a new tab) that a brain microbiome can and does exist in healthy vertebrates — fish, specifically. Researchers at the University of New Mexico discovered communities of bacteria thriving in salmon and trout brains. Many of the microbial species have special adaptations that allow them to survive in brain tissue, as well as techniques to cross the protective blood-brain barrier.
Matthew Olm (opens a new tab), a physiologist who studies the human microbiome at the University of Colorado, Boulder and was not involved with the study, is “inherently skeptical” of the idea that populations of microbes could live in the brain, he said. But he found the new research convincing. “This is concrete evidence that brain microbiomes do exist in vertebrates,” he said. “And so the idea that humans have a brain microbiome is not outlandish.”
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Hi Erronis,
Hope you are doing well. I am still taking a break from DU and the net in general. Gives my brain a break from Trump-Musk world 
. But just popped on to see what was new.
Hope you are well. Interesting article 
.
Microbiomes are generally cool:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microbiome
Quorum sensing is a neat concept..