The Microbiota-gut-brain axis describes the bidirectional communication between central nervous system and microorganisms in the gastrointestinal tract. Increasing evidence has suggests that the vagus nerve, a major neural connection between the gut and brain, plays a key role in facilitating signaling along the microbiota-gut-brain axis. Much of this evidence has come from studies employing surgical subdiaphragmatic vagotomy. Here we provide a review of the use of vagotomy as a tool to explore the role of the vagus nerve in gut to brain signaling and the knowledge this approach has provided. We also examine how, more recently, vagotomy has contributed to the understanding of the vagus nerve as a bridge for multi-systemic communication; linking microbiota, immune and central nervous systems. Finally, we address limitations to surgical vagotomy and identify such limitations may be mitigated in future studies.

微生物群-肠-脑轴描述了中枢神经系统与胃肠道微生物之间的双向交流。越来越多的证据表明，迷走神经是肠道和大脑之间的主要神经连接，在促进沿微生物群-肠-脑轴的信号传导方面发挥着关键作用。这些证据大部分来自采用外科膈下迷走神经切断术的研究。在这里，我们回顾了使用迷走神经切断术作为工具来探索迷走神经在肠道到大脑信号传导中的作用以及这种方法提供的知识。我们还研究了最近迷走神经切断术如何有助于将迷走神经理解为多系统交流的桥梁；连接微生物群、免疫系统和中枢神经系统。最后，