| Fish Have a Brain Microbiome. Could Humans Have One Too? | |
| By Yasemin Saplakoglu |
Source: Quanta Magazine |
12/10/2024 |
|
|
Credit: Irene Salinas |
Bacteria are in, around and all over us. They thrive in almost every corner of the planet, from deep-sea hydrothermal vents, to high up in the clouds, to the crevices of your ears, mouth, nose and gut. But scientists have long assumed that bacteria can’t survive in the human brain. The powerful blood-brain barrier, the thinking goes, keeps the organ mostly free from outside invaders. But are we sure that a healthy human brain doesn’t have a microbiome of its own? |
|
|
Over the last decade, initial studies have presented conflicting evidence. The idea has remained controversial, given the difficulty of obtaining healthy, uncontaminated human brain tissue that could be used to study possible microbial inhabitants. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|