Provides readers with a full understanding of the capabilities of the microbiota to interface with the brain and form the microbiota-gut-brain axis and a detailed examination of the consequences of the microbiota-driven gut-to-brain communication for both health and disease

Represents the realization that any attempt to understand the ability of the microbiota to interface with the brain must attempt to address multiple disciplines

Chapters cut across disciplines of microbiology, endocrinology, neurophysiology, evolution, and disease

Includes supplementary material: [...]

Part I: Basic Concepts Underlying the Microbiota-Gut-Brain Axis.- Microbial Endocrinology and the Microbiota-Gut-Brain Axis.- Utilizing "omics" Tools to Study the Complex Gut Ecosystem.- The Enteric Nervous System and Gastrointestinal Innervation: Integrated Local and Central Control.- Intestinal Barrier Function and the Brain-Gut Axis.- Vagal Pathways for Microbiome-Brain-Gut Axis Communication.- The Brain-Gut Axis in Health and Disease.- Part II: Mechanistic Factors Influencing the Microbiota-Gut-Brain Axis.- Gastrointestinal Hormones and Their Targets.- Microbiome, HPA Axis and Production of Endocrine Hormones in the Gut.- Neuropeptides and the MicrobiotäGut¿Brain Axis.- Bacterial Neuroactive Compounds Produced by Psychobiotics.- Multidirectional Chemical Signalling Between Mammalian Hosts, Resident Microbiota, and Invasive Pathogens: Neuroendocrine Hormone-Induced Changes in Bacterial Gene Expression.- Influence of Stressor-Induced Nervous System Activation on the Intestinal Microbiota and the Importance for Immunomodulation.- Part III: The Microbiota-Gut-Brain Axis in Health and Disease.- The Effects of Inflammation, Infection and Antibiotics on the Microbiota-Gut-Brain Axis.- Microbiota, Inflammation and Obesity.- Microbiota, Immunoregulatory Old Friends and Psychiatric Disorders.- Microbiota-Gut-Brain Axis and Cognitive Function.- The Impact of Microbiota on Brain and Behavior: Mechanisms & Therapeutic Potential.- Neuroimaging the Microbiome-Gut-Brain Axis.- The Future of Probiotics for Disorders of the Brain-Gut Axis.- Index.