Microbial tryptophan metabolites modulate blood-brain and gut barriers in vitro
Rosell-Cardona C, Knox EG, Sánchez-Díaz P, Leigh SJ, Tirelli E, Goodson MS, Kelley-Loughnane N, Aburto MR, Kittel-Schneider S, Cryan JF, Clarke G (2025)
Publication Type: Journal article
Publication year: 2025
Journal
Article Number: 106876
DOI: 10.1016/j.nsa.2025.106876
Abstract
The gut microbiota influences brain function via the gut-brain axis, but the underlying molecular processes remain unclear. Critical to this communication are barrier systems, such as the epithelial gut and the blood-brain barrier, which mediate the interface between circulating signals and gut-brain communication. Microbial metabolites are key mediators of the gut microbiota that can influence barrier integrity. In this study, we used well-established in vitro models of the blood-brain and gut barriers and exposed them to a wide range of physiologically relevant stress-associated microbial metabolites, including tryptophan-derived metabolites with and without lipopolysaccharide (LPS) as a disrupting insult. We demonstrated that indole, indole-3-acetate, indole-3-propionate and tryptamine can modulate both gut and brain barriers in a dose- and cell-type dependent manner. Our findings suggest that specific indole metabolites should be further evaluated as promising novel therapeutic interventions to regulate barrier integrity along the microbiota-gut-brain axis.
Involved external institutions
Ireland (IE)How to cite
APA:
Rosell-Cardona, C., Knox, E.G., Sánchez-Díaz, P., Leigh, S.J., Tirelli, E., Goodson, M.S.,... Clarke, G. (2025). Microbial tryptophan metabolites modulate blood-brain and gut barriers in vitro. Neuroscience Applied. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nsa.2025.106876
MLA:
Rosell-Cardona, Cristina, et al. "Microbial tryptophan metabolites modulate blood-brain and gut barriers in vitro." Neuroscience Applied (2025).
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