Tantalizing but preliminary evidence of a “brain microbiome”

Re:Tantalizing but preliminary evidence of a “brain microbiome” by saagarjha on Tuesday November 13, 2018 @01:25AM (#18439054)

Wait a second, how did bacteria get through the blood-brain barrier?

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Re:Tantalizing but preliminary evidence of a “brain microbiome” by dustfinger on Tuesday November 13, 2018 @05:05AM (#18439895)

In that case the barrier is likely semipermeable. It may be that certain bacteria were advantageous to human evolution, so the barrier evolved with a mechanism that allowed good bacteria to pass through. Now this should make us humans a bit concerned about the likelihood of mimics. If good bacteria indeed play a role in human emotion and alertness, then perhaps some mimics result in certain types of mental illness.

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Re:Tantalizing but preliminary evidence of a “brain microbiome” by vixen99 on Tuesday November 13, 2018 @01:45AM (#18439134)

Bacteria associated with meningitis get through with predictable results so what else might?

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Re:Tantalizing but preliminary evidence of a “brain microbiome” by dustfinger on Tuesday November 13, 2018 @05:13AM (#18439932)

I do not know a lot about bacterial meningitis, but I don't believe that it actually passes through the barrier. Meningitis is caused by the inflammation of a membrane that the brain and spinal chord are encased within [1]. So it might be causing the membrane to become enflamed from the outward facing surface.

[1] https://www.healthline.com/health/bacterial-meningitis-cause...

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Re:Tantalizing but preliminary evidence of a “brain microbiome” by pseudolus on Tuesday November 13, 2018 @07:47AM (#18440529)

There has been some potentially revolutionary work at CalTech with respect to the link between intestinal bacterial and Parkinson's (see link below). If it pans out it could potentially open up entirely new avenues of treatment.

http://www.caltech.edu/news/parkinsons-disease-linked-microb...

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Re:Tantalizing but preliminary evidence of a “brain microbiome” by singularity2001 on Tuesday November 13, 2018 @08:58AM (#18440929)

Pesticides and plasticizers are known to disturb the blood-brain barrier and allow poisonous substances (and apparently bacteria?) to infiltrate brains.

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Re:Tantalizing but preliminary evidence of a “brain microbiome” by eecc on Tuesday November 13, 2018 @04:46AM (#18439814)

maybe the barrier is not that leak-proof as current medical postulates? Maybe it's not a barrier after all, just a border?

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Re:Tantalizing but preliminary evidence of a “brain microbiome” by pbhjpbhj on Tuesday November 13, 2018 @07:28AM (#18440430)

How is babby formed!??

Seriously, is it possible the brain is infected (innoculated maybe?) in utero before the blood brain barrier is formed, or before the skull is formed.

That would be cool: if mothers passed on a colony of bacterias that evolved down the generations.

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Re:Tantalizing but preliminary evidence of a “brain microbiome” by agumonkey on Tuesday November 13, 2018 @06:20AM (#18440171)

Everything has limits and fails. So yeah, probably this.

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Re:Tantalizing but preliminary evidence of a “brain microbiome” by CodeWriter23 on Tuesday November 13, 2018 @04:44AM (#18439808)

By being the same size or smaller than the passages in the barrier.

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Re:Tantalizing but preliminary evidence of a “brain microbiome” by saagarjha on Tuesday November 13, 2018 @05:05AM (#18439897)

The blood brain barrier usually only allows particles on the order of nanometers in size, while bacteria are much, much larger.

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