ReviewThe Journal of clinical investigation2021
The gut, its microbiome, and the brain: connections and communications.
Review in The Journal of clinical investigation, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 117 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
117 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 194 citations in OpenAlex.
- Prenatal Maternal Stress and Infant Gut Microbiome in Human and Animal Studies: A Comprehensive Systematic Review.Developmental psychobiology · 2026Pooled it
- Global research trends in enteric nervous system and gut microbiota: a bibliometric analysis (2005-2025).Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2026Pooled it
- From gut to brain: unveiling probiotic effects through a neuroimaging perspective-A systematic review of randomized controlled trials.Frontiers in nutrition · 2024Pooled it
- The Role of Gut Microbiome in the Pathogenesis of Multiple Sclerosis and Related Disorders.Cells · 2023Pooled it
- Activation of peripheral muscarinic receptors rescues depressive-like behaviors via gut-brain-axis, involving parasympathetic excitation.Acta pharmacologica Sinica · 2026Article
- Molecular Mechanisms of Gut Microbiota-Immune System Crosstalk: From Mucosal Architecture to Adaptive Immunity Programming.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- Targeting the Gut-Brain Axis: Pharmacological Modulation of the Microbiome for Neurological and Behavioural Disorders in Companion Animals.Veterinary medicine and science · 2026Review
- Unraveling the gut microbiota-brain axis: Mechanisms, pathophysiology, and therapeutic opportunities.iScience · 2026Review
- Gut-Brain Connection: Deciphering Causal Pathways Between Gut Microbiota and Neuroimaging Profiles Through Mendelian Randomization.Food science & nutrition · 2026Article
- Review
- Central control of gastrointestinal functions in health and disease.Physiological reviews · 2026Review
- The Prevalence of Patient Mindsets in Inflammatory Bowel Disease and Relationship with Physical and Psychological Outcomes.International journal of behavioral medicine · 2026Article
- Probiotics as Modulators of Adult Neurogenesis and Synaptic Plasticity: New Perspectives in the Pathophysiology and Treatment of Affective Disorders.Biomedicines · 2026Review
- Elimination of Autism Symptoms Using the Specific Carbohydrate Diet: Literature Review and Case Report.Integrative medicine (Encinitas, Calif.) · 2026Review
- Applications and potential mechanisms of transcranial magnetic stimulation in autism spectrum disorders.Journal of translational medicine · 2026Review
- Transformer Models, Graph Networks, and Generative AI in Gut Microbiome Research: A Narrative Review.Bioengineering (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Mechanisms and clinical implications of gut-brain interactions.The Journal of clinical investigation · 2026Review
- Altered cortical neuronal activity in functional esophageal disorders and its associations with chronic insomnia and peripheral inflammation: a resting-state fMRI study.Frontiers in molecular neuroscience · 2026Article
- Hypothalamic neuroimmune remodeling as an immunometabolic bridge between childhood obesity and earlier pubertal onset.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Review
- Plant-derived bioactives, the gut-brain axis, and neurodegenerative diseases: mechanistic roles of diet-microbiota interactions.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2026Review
57 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Modern research on gastrointestinal behavior has revealed it to be a highly complex bidirectional process in which the gut sends signals to the brain, via spinal and vagal visceral afferent pathways, and receives sympathetic and parasympathetic inputs. Concomitantly, the enteric nervous system within the bowel, which contains intrinsic primary afferent neurons, interneurons, and motor neurons, also senses the enteric environment and controls the detailed patterns of intestinal motility and secretion. The vast microbiome that is resident within the enteric lumen is yet another contributor, not only to gut behavior, but to the bidirectional signaling process, so that the existence of a microbiota-gut-brain "connectome" has become apparent. The interaction between the microbiota, the bowel, and the brain now appears to be neither a top-down nor a bottom-up process. Instead, it is an ongoing, tripartite conversation, the outline of which is beginning to emerge and is the subject of this Review. We emphasize aspects of the exponentially increasing knowledge of the microbiota-gut-brain "connectome" and focus attention on the roles that serotonin, Toll-like receptors, and macrophages play in signaling as exemplars of potentially generalizable mechanisms.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.