The growing understanding of the link between the gut and brain inflammation is perhaps one of the most exciting new avenues in modern medical research. An incredible new study from researchers at the University of Toronto and UC San Francisco has provided a novel insight into the gut-brain connection, revealing the intestine may be the source of immune cells found to reduce brain inflammation in multiple sclerosis (MS) sufferers.
The new study, published in ‘Cell’, revealed that plasma cells residing in the intestine can produce antibodies known as Immunoglobulin A (IgA). It was established that these IgA plasma cells have the ability to move from the intestine into the central nervous system, and reduce neuroinflammation associated with MS flare-ups.
Alongside a discovery that IgA levels in human fecal samples were lower when patients were suffering from active MS neuroinflammation, the study found that increasing the volume of these IgA plasma cells in mouse models resulted in a resistance to MS-related brain inflammation. All this seems to confidently suggest that MS-related brain inflammation can be, to a degree, modulated by this mechanism that originates in the gut.
Reed more: New Atlas
