Recent research has provided compelling evidence that bacteria can exist in the brains of healthy vertebrates, specifically fish. This challenges the long-held belief that the brain is protected from outside microbial invasion by the blood-brain barrier. The study, published in Science Advances, found diverse communities of bacteria in the brains of salmon and trout, with some species showing adaptations to survive in brain tissue and cross the blood-brain barrier. While fish physiology differs from humans, this discovery raises intriguing possibilities about the existence of a human brain microbiome and its potential impact on neurobiology.
Bacteria 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.
By comparing microbial DNA from the brain to that collected from other organs, her lab found a subset of species that didn’t appear elsewhere in the body. Salinas hypothesized that these species may have colonized the fish brains early in their development, before their blood-brain barriers had fully formed. “Early on, anything can go in; it’s a free-for-all,” she said. But many of the microbial species were also found throughout the body.
MICROBIOME BRAIN BACTERIA FISH IMMUNE SYSTEM
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