Microbiome Alterations in Neurodegenerative Diseases

Omagor Jacob

Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Kampala International University Uganda

Email: jacob.omagor@studwc.kiu.ac.ug

ABSTRACT

Neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis represent a growing global health challenge, with complex etiologies that remain incompletely understood. Emerging evidence highlights the critical role of the gut microbiome in modulating neuroinflammation, immune responses, and neuronal function through the gut–brain axis. Alterations in microbial diversity and metabolite production have been linked to disease onset, progression, and symptom severity, suggesting that host–microbe interactions are integral to neurodegenerative pathology. Advances in sequencing technologies and multi-omics approaches are unraveling these mechanisms, while therapeutic strategies, including probiotics, prebiotics, synbiotics, dietary interventions, and fecal microbiota transplantation are being investigated for their potential to restore microbial balance and improve clinical outcomes. Despite these promising insights, major challenges remain, including disentangling causality from correlation, addressing methodological variability, and ensuring ethical and regulatory oversight in clinical applications. This review synthesizes current knowledge of gut microbiome–neurodegeneration interactions, evaluates therapeutic opportunities, and highlights future directions for research, precision medicine, and public health.

Keywords: Neurodegeneration, Gut microbiome, Gut–brain axis, Microbiome-targeted therapies and Host–microbe interactions.

CITE AS: Omagor Jacob (2025). Microbiome Alterations in Neurodegenerative Diseases. IDOSR JOURNAL OF APPLIED SCIENCES 10(3):41-51.  https://doi.org/10.59298/IDOSRJAS/2025/103.4151