Systematic Reviews
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2021. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Oct 21, 2021; 27(39): 6715-6732
Published online Oct 21, 2021. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v27.i39.6715
Microbiota shaping — the effects of probiotics, prebiotics, and fecal microbiota transplant on cognitive functions: A systematic review
Simone Baldi, Tiziana Mundula, Giulia Nannini, Amedeo Amedei
Simone Baldi, Tiziana Mundula, Giulia Nannini, Amedeo Amedei, Department of Experimental and Clinical Medicine, University of Florence, Florence 50134, Italy
Amedeo Amedei, SOD of Interdisciplinary Internal Medicine, Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria Careggi, Florence 50134, Italy
Author contributions: Baldi S and Mundula T contributed equally to writing the manuscript; Baldi S, Mundula T, Nannini G, and Amedei A contributed to the conceptualization and design of the study; Baldi S, Mundula T, Nannini G, and Amedei A critically revised the paper; Amedei A contributed to the supervision of the study; Baldi S, Mundula T, Nannini G, and Amedei A approved the final version of the paper.
Supported by Università degli Studi di Firenze, No. EX60%2020.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare no competing interests.
PRISMA 2009 Checklist statement: The authors have read the PRISMA 2009 Checklist, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the PRISMA 2009 Checklist.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (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: Amedeo Amedei, BSc, Reader (Associate Professor), Department of Experimental and Clinical Medicine, University of Florence, Largo Brambilla 3, Florence 50134, Italy. aamedei@unifi.it
Received: February 25, 2021
Peer-review started: February 25, 2021
First decision: April 18, 2021
Revised: May 12, 2021
Accepted: September 2, 2021
Article in press: September 2, 2021
Published online: October 21, 2021
Core Tip

Core Tip: Dementia and cognitive impairment are age-related conditions that are on the rise worldwide. Recent studies have demonstrated the existence of a gut-brain axis and that the manipulation of gut microbiota composition can exert positive effects on cognition. The administration of probiotics, prebiotics, and fecal microbiota transplant may represent a good strategy to counteract gut dysbiosis and ameliorate cognitive dysfunction by reducing neuroinflammation and brain damage.