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A metabolite from gut microbes seems to make ALS less severe in mice﻿

A chemical released by bacteria in the intestines may play a protective role in the progression of the neurodegenerative disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), according to a new study (Nature 2019, DOI: 10.1038/s41586-019-1443-5). These findings are the latest in a stream of research linking brain health to gut microbes. Eran Elinav, the Weizmann Institute of Science researcher who led the study, says that these results support the idea that ALS, which is commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, could be influenced by the environment as much as through genetics. “We thought it would be interesting and potentially important to see whether such environmental factors could possibly impact the course or severity of ALS through effects mediated by the microbiome,” he says. To investigate the role of the microbiome in ALS, Elinav’s group studied mice that are engineered to carry a genetic change that leads to ALS in humans. The researchers