The most common causes of death in the world are heart attacks and strokes. Scientists have long been sure that they know almost everything about stroke. It turned out that this is not the case – about whether or not we will return to full fitness after a stroke … bacteria in our intestines.
The discovery of scientists from Cornell University in New York sheds a whole new light on post-stroke rehabilitation. “Bacteria in the gut can alleviate the course of a stroke and reduce its effects by up to 60 percent!”, Reports the American journal Nature Medicine.
Bacteria “see” a stroke
What does the gut have to do with brain damage caused by a blocked or ruptured blood vessel? Bacteria that live in the intestines affect the survival of nerve cells by modifying the reactions of the immune system. Immune cells go from the intestine to the meninges. From there, they direct the stroke response – while remaining outside the brain themselves, they reduce the damage to the brain. “Our experiment showed new connections between the brain and the gut,” said Dr. Josef Anrather of Weill Cornell Medicine, who led the research team. The experiment was carried out on mice that had been artificially induced a stroke, but scientists have no doubt that the results would be the same if the experiment were human. And the fact that the gut microbiome influences the course of stroke could be of enormous importance in assessing the risk associated with it.
Modifying the intestinal flora may become an innovative method of stroke prevention, especially useful for high-risk people, i.e. patients undergoing cardiac surgery or with constricted blood vessels in the brain.
Intestine versus psyche
It is worth recalling that these are not the first spectacular and optimistic reports on intestinal bacteria. Recently, Swiss scientists have proven that microorganisms inhabiting the intestines of pregnant women affect the development of the immune system of their children. And while they found no evidence that the bacteria penetrated the fetus through the placenta, they found that the metabolites produced by the bacteria were successful. This results in an increased amount of the baby’s immune cells not only in the womb, but also after birth. This effect also persists after the end of breastfeeding the baby.
Another experiment in mice this year revealed that the composition of the gut flora influences how animals react to childhood stress during their adult life. Scientists, encouraged by the results of this experiment, are conducting further research, this time involving humans. They hope to show that altering the gut microbiome can bring relief to those suffering from mental illness.
These are really optimistic reports, because it seems that we can very easily minimize the risk of a stroke and affect immunity – including mental immunity. To fix the gut microbiome, you just need to change your diet.
How do you recognize a stroke?