ArticleThe European journal of neuroscience2019
Insular resting state functional connectivity is associated with gut microbiota diversity.
Article in The European journal of neuroscience, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 37 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
37 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Gut-brain axis and neuroplasticity in health and disease: a systematic review.La Radiologia medica · 2025Pooled it
- A systematic review exploring the association between the human gut microbiota and brain connectivity in health and disease.Molecular psychiatry · 2023Pooled it
- Examining the Influence of the Human Gut Microbiota on Cognition and Stress: A Systematic Review of the Literature.Nutrients · 2022Pooled it
- Effects of the antibiotic rifaximin on cortical functional connectivity are mediated through insular cortex.Scientific reports · 2021Trial
- Investigating the relationship between gut microbiota and electrocortical signatures of feedback processing: an ERP study.Psychopharmacology · 2026Article
- A human-derived Bacteroides strain attenuates depressive-like behavior in a rat model of social defeat-induced stress.BMC medicine · 2026Article
- Intestinal short-chain fatty acid turnover is not associated with resting state functional connectivity in mesolimbic dopaminergic network in healthy adults.Neuroimage. Reports · 2025Article
- Functional brain connectivity of the salience network in alcohol use and anxiety disorders.Journal of affective disorders · 2025Article
- Smoking-related gut microbiota alteration is associated with obesity and obesity-related diseases: results from two cohorts with sibling comparison analyses.BMC medicine · 2025Article
- Potential roles of cigarette smoking on gut microbiota profile among Chinese men.BMC medicine · 2025Article
- Gut Microbiota at the Crossroad of Hepatic Oxidative Stress and MASLD.Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- A neural signature for gastrointestinal symptoms in depression: insula-gastric connectivity predicts symptom severity.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Article
- Peripheral contributions to resting state brain dynamics.Nature communications · 2024Article
- Interplay of Oxidative Stress, Gut Microbiota, and Nicotine in Metabolic-Associated Steatotic Liver Disease (MASLD).Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- Microbiota-Gut-Brain Axis in Psychiatry: Focus on Depressive Disorders.Current epidemiology reports · 2024Article
- Altered interaction network in the gut microbiota of current cigarette smokers.Engineering microbiology · 2024Article
- Improving precision management of anxiety disorders: a Mendelian randomization study targeting specific gut microbiota and associated metabolites.Frontiers in microbiology · 2024Article
- Increased functional connectivity following ingestion of dried bonito soup.Frontiers in nutrition · 2024Article
- Intestinal microbiota dysbiosis and liver metabolomic changes during brain death.Journal of intensive medicine · 2023Article
- Six Decades of Dopamine Hypothesis: Is Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor the New D2?Reports (MDPI) · 2023Review
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Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
Abstract
The gut microbiota has recently gained attention as a possible modulator of brain activity. A number of reports suggest that the microbiota may be associated with neuropsychiatric conditions such as major depressive disorder, autism and anxiety. The gut microbiota is thought to influence the brain via vagus nerve signalling, among other possible mechanisms. The insula processes and integrates these vagal signals. To determine if microbiota diversity and structure modulate brain activity, we collected faecal samples and examined insular function using resting state functional connectivity (RSFC). Thirty healthy participants (non-smokers, tobacco smokers and electronic cigarette users, n = 10 each) were studied. We found that the RSFC between the insula and several regions (frontal pole left, lateral occipital cortex right, lingual gyrus right and cerebellum 4, 5 and vermis 9) were associated with bacterial microbiota diversity and structure. In addition, two specific bacteria genera, Prevotella and Bacteroides, were specifically different in tobacco smokers and also associated with insular connectivity. In conclusion, we show that insular connectivity is associated with microbiome diversity, structure and at least two specific bateria genera. Furthemore, this association is potentially modulated by tobacco smoking, although the sample sizes for the different smoking groups were small and this result needs validation in a larger cohort. While replication is necessary, the microbiota is a readily accessible therapeutic target for modulating insular connectivity, which has previously been shown to be abnormal in anxiety and tobacco use disorders.
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