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Copyright ©The Author(s) 2020. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Oct 28, 2020; 26(40): 6141-6162
Published online Oct 28, 2020. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v26.i40.6141
Role of gut microbiota via the gut-liver-brain axis in digestive diseases
Jian-Hong Ding, Zhe Jin, Xiao-Xu Yang, Jun Lou, Wei-Xi Shan, Yan-Xia Hu, Qian Du, Qiu-Shi Liao, Rui Xie, Jing-Yu Xu
Jian-Hong Ding, Zhe Jin, Xiao-Xu Yang, Jun Lou, Wei-Xi Shan, Yan-Xia Hu, Qian Du, Qiu-Shi Liao, Rui Xie, Jing-Yu Xu, Department of Gastroenterology, Affiliated Hospital of Zunyi Medical University, Zunyi 563003, Guizhou Province, China
Author contributions: Ding JH and Jin Z equally contributed to this study, and wrote the manuscript; Yang XX, Lou J, Shan WX, Hu YX, Du Q and Liao QS collected the literature; Xie R revised manuscript; Xu JY revised the manuscript for clarity and style; and all authors read and approved the final manuscript; Xie R and Xu JY are the co-corresponding authors.
Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 81970541, No. 31960151, No. 81660099 and No. 81660412.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Jing-Yu Xu, PhD, Professor, Department of Gastroenterology, Affiliated Hospital of Zunyi Medical University, No. 149 Dalian Road, Huichuan District, Zunyi 563003, Guizhou Province, China. xujingyu_gzzy@126.com
Received: July 8, 2020
Peer-review started: July 8, 2020
First decision: August 8, 2020
Revised: August 29, 2020
Accepted: September 18, 2020
Article in press: September 18, 2020
Published online: October 28, 2020
Abstract

The gut-brain axis is a bidirectional information interaction system between the central nervous system (CNS) and the gastrointestinal tract, in which gut microbiota plays a key role. The gut microbiota forms a complex network with the enteric nervous system, the autonomic nervous system, and the neuroendocrine and neuroimmunity of the CNS, which is called the microbiota-gut-brain axis. Due to the close anatomical and functional interaction of the gut-liver axis, the microbiota-gut-liver-brain axis has attracted increased attention in recent years. The microbiota-gut-liver-brain axis mediates the occurrence and development of many diseases, and it offers a direction for the research of disease treatment. In this review, we mainly discuss the role of the gut microbiota in the irritable bowel syndrome, inflammatory bowel disease, functional dyspepsia, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, alcoholic liver disease, cirrhosis and hepatic encephalopathy via the gut-liver-brain axis, and the focus is to clarify the potential mechanisms and treatment of digestive diseases based on the further understanding of the microbiota-gut- liver-brain axis.

Keywords: Microbiota-gut-brain axis, Gut-liver axis, Gut microbiota, Digestive diseases, Herbaceous medications

Core Tip: Microbiota-gut-liver-brain axis regulates the occurrence and development of many diseases, and it offers a new direction for research on the treatment of diseases. In recent years, there have been more and more studies on the microbiota-gut-liver-brain axis, which not only increases the understanding of its pathogenesis, but also provides many novel treatment methods. We herein discuss the role of microbiota-gut-liver-brain axis in digestive diseases with a focus on clarifying the potential mechanisms and treatment.