The Gut-Brain-Aging Axis: Microbiota, Neuroinflammation, and Cognitive Longevity

The gut microbiome has emerged as a key regulator of central nervous system function, with age-related shifts in microbial composition increasingly linked to neuroinflammation and cognitive decline. As the intestinal ecosystem changes across the lifespan — marked by reduced diversity, altered metabolite production, and increased gut permeability, the consequences for brain health become ever more apparent. Microbially derived signals, including short-chain fatty acids, tryptophan metabolites, and lipopolysaccharides, are now recognised to modulate glial activation, blood-brain barrier integrity, and synaptic function. Yet the mechanisms by which gut dysbiosis drives neuroinflammatory cascades in the aging brain, and whether these processes causally contribute to cognitive decline and neurodegenerative disease, remain incompletely understood.This Research Topic aims to consolidate and advance understanding of the gut-brain aging axis, with a focus on how microbiota, immune, and neural interactions shape cognitive aging trajectories. We welcome mechanistic, translational, and clinical contributions spanning molecular and cellular studies, multi-omics analyses, animal models, and human cohort data. Reviews and perspectives on microbiota-targeted interventions — including dietary strategies, pre- and probiotics, and faecal microbiota transplantation — are equally encouraged. We invite multidisciplinary submissions bridging microbiology, neuroscience, immunology, and gerontology to advance both the mechanistic and therapeutic understanding of gut-brain communication across the aging lifespan. Topic editors: Janaina Lombello Santos Donadio, Bratati Kahali Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/81714/the-gut-brain-aging-axis-microbiota-neuroinflammation-and-cognitive-longevity