Effects of gut bacteria and their amyloids on mental health and neurodegeneration in Parkinson’s disease

Abstract

Histopathologically, amyloids are known as β-sheet rich extracellular protein deposits that are generally associated with neuro-degenerative diseases of mammals including α-synuclein observed in Parkinson’s disease (PD). Microorganisms have been reported for production of similar proteins with functional physiological traits also termed as “functional amyloids” helping them in invasion, biofilm-formation, host-colonization, and even in immune activation. The gut-associated micro-flora is known to aggravate the neuro-degeneration and disease progression. In the present work, the authors have analyzed the possibility of interaction between α-synuclein with functional amyloids using in silico tools (phylogeny, docking and molecular dynamics (MD) simulation and visual MD visualization) and reviewed the reported (in vitro and in vivo) interactions. The interaction of functional amyloids and anti-Parkinsonian drugs with wild type α-synuclein (non-misfolded) were shown to be interacting with specific amino acids with possibility of use of micro-biota even as psycho-biotics. The microbial exudates have been implicated with various disorders influencing human mental health in both negative and positive effects. The present review, analyzing the influence of gut-micro-flora crossing gut-brain-axis, and enhancing the psycho-pathological health of human brain can help future research in alleviating human mental health using gut-brain axis.