Altered gut immune system in Alzheimer's mouse model provides new target for therapeutics (High-fiber diet / inulin)

The gut contains the largest collection of immune cells in the body. New research shows that some of those immune cells travel along the brain/gut axis in a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease (AD), providing a potential new therapeutic pathway for the memory-robbing malady.

The research also shows that feeding the mice a high-fiber diet reduces AD-related frailty, including tremor.

Priya Makhijani, Ph.D. found that specific antibody-producing B cells, normally responsible for keeping the microbiome and the gut immune system in harmony, were reduced in the mice bred to develop AD.

She also discovered this cell type has a migratory signature; researchers found the gut-specific B cells and their migratory receptors in the brain and in its border region, the meningeal dura mater.

"Remarkably, we found that these immune cells in the brain border which recognize bacteria living in the intestines were accumulating in the AD brain," Makhijani says.

Makhijani and team found that feeding the animals the anti-inflammatory prebiotic fiber inulin restored balance in the gut of the AD mice.

"We found these migrating cells were replenished in the gut and that AD-related frailty, including the tremor trait, was reduced in the animals."

Noting that inulin makes short-chain fatty acids and other metabolites that concentrate in the gut and can also circulate systemically, she says the diet improved gut health and reduced chemokine signaling in the brain.

Winer notes that while the high-fiber diet did not consistently reduce the levels of plaques in the mice's brain, it did impact overall well-being.

"We did an assay involving 31 metrics of aging in these mice. The diet definitely extended their health span, giving the animals a better quality of life," he says, adding, "This project supports the 'eat your fruits and vegetables' advice that is featured in nearly every dietary recommendation."

The inulin was supplied by a 3rd party as mouse chow. However, I know special blends of inulin and FOS powder (available over the counter) have had similar positive effects. The inulin such powder uses is a certain subtype of inulin that is anti-inflammatory.

Do note that people with cirrhosis should be careful with inulin, based on a prior mouse study (also with human blood in a lab) that showed that having a portosystemic shunt created higher bile acid levels and encouraged liver cancer. For the rest of us, keeping inulin below 20 grams a day should be generally okay.

The result of this study showed more bifidobacterium bacteria in the gut making fairly more short chain fatty acids.

Someday, the establishment will accept the magnitude of importance of the gut.

Until then - and public acceptance as well, which will NEVER occur in my lifetime - such concepts only succeed at making the patient ‘feel better, accomplishing nothing for overall health.

Such is the nature of ‘poison’...and the industries which peddle it like drugs to addicts.

When COVID was a hot topic, Dr Sabine Hazan discovered that the COVID infection wiped out the Bifidobacteria in the gut. She compared healthy and unhealthy individuals and did a fingerprint of the biome in each category. Missing Bifidobacteria was a key marker for the unhealthy group. Below is a summary generated by grok in html form for this post.

Key Findings from Sabine Hazan's Gut Microbiome Research

COVID-19 Severity (2022): Severe COVID-19 patients showed low microbiome diversity, depleted Bifidobacterium and Faecalibacterium, and higher Bacteroides, while healthy/mild cases had high diversity and protective bacteria, inversely correlating with symptom severity. (Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy, 2022)
ASD and GI Symptoms (2020): A triplet with ASD and GI issues had lower diversity, higher Bacteroidetes/Firmicutes ratio (0.67 vs. 0.17–0.24), reduced Bifidobacterium (0.79% vs. 9–16%), and increased Proteobacteria/Blautia compared to healthy siblings, suggesting dysbiosis links to ASD. (Journal of Personalized Medicine, 2020)
Vitamin C and Bifidobacteria (2022): Vitamin C supplementation increased Bifidobacterium levels, enhancing healthy microbiomes and infection resistance, while low baseline levels marked unhealthy, infection-prone states. (Future Microbiology, 2022)
COVID-19 Discordant Family (2022): Infected family members had lower Bifidobacterium and diversity compared to healthy, uninfected members, indicating pre-existing dysbiosis predicts susceptibility. (Frontiers in Medicine, 2022)
Ivermectin and Immunity (2022): Ivermectin may feed Bifidobacterium, reducing inflammation in COVID-19; unhealthy profiles with low Bifidobacterium showed worse outcomes. (Journal of Inflammation Research, 2022)
Anxiety and Microbiome (2024): Anxious patients exhibited dysbiosis with altered bacterial patterns compared to non-anxious controls, linking healthy microbiomes to better mental health. (Journal of Personalized Medicine, 2024)
Mother-Infant Microbiome (2024): High maternal Bifidobacterium protected newborns from severe outcomes, while low levels increased vulnerability, highlighting early-life microbiome importance. (Nutrients, 2024)

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