The prenatal and early postnatal stages represent a critical time window for human brain development. Interestingly, this window partly overlaps with the maturation of the intestinal flora (microbiota) that play a critical role in the bidirectional communication between the central and the enteric nervous systems (microbiota-gut-brain axis). The microbial composition has important influences on general health and the development of several organ systems, such as the gastrointestinal tract, the immune system, and also the brain. Clinical studies have shown that microbiota alterations are associated with a wide range of neuropsychiatric disorders including autism spectrum disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder. In this review, we dissect the link between these neuropsychiatric disorders and the intestinal microbiota by focusing on their effect on synaptic pruning, a vital process in the maturation and establishing efficient functioning of the brain. We discuss in detail how synaptic pruning is dysregulated differently in the aforementioned neuropsychiatric disorders and how it can be influenced by dysbiosis and/or changes in the intestinal microbiota composition. We also review that the improvement in the intestinal microbiota composition by a change in diet, probiotics, prebiotics, or fecal microbiota transplantation may play a role in improving neuropsychiatric functioning, which can be at least partly explained via the optimization of synaptic pruning and neuronal connections. Altogether, the demonstration of the microbiota's influence on brain function via microglial-induced synaptic pruning addresses the possibility that the manipulation of microbiota-immune crosstalk represents a promising strategy for treating neuropsychiatric disorders.

中文翻译：

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突触修剪失调可能是肠道菌群失调与神经精神疾病之间的联系。

产前和产后早期阶段代表了人类大脑发育的关键时间窗口。有趣的是，这个窗口与肠道菌群（微生物群）的成熟部分重叠，后者在中枢神经系统和肠道神经系统（微生物群-肠-脑轴）之间的双向交流中起关键作用。微生物组成对一般健康和多种器官系统的发育具有重要影响，例如胃肠道、免疫系统和大脑。临床研究表明，微生物群的改变与多种神经精神疾病有关，包括自闭症谱系障碍、注意力缺陷多动障碍、精神分裂症和双相情感障碍。在这次审查中，我们通过关注它们对突触修剪的影响来剖析这些神经精神疾病与肠道微生物群之间的联系，突触修剪是大脑成熟和建立有效功能的重要过程。我们详细讨论了突触修剪在上述神经精神疾病中如何以不同的方式失调，以及它如何受到生态失调和/或肠道微生物群组成变化的影响。我们还回顾了通过改变饮食、益生菌、益生元或粪便微生物群移植来改善肠道微生物群组成可能在改善神经精神功能方面发挥作用，这至少可以通过优化突触修剪和神经元连接来部分解释. 总之，微生物群的示范'