The gut–brain axis plays a critical role in the maintenance of the gastrointestinal tract homeostasis. Several enteric pathogens have developed strategies to sense neurochemical molecules to regulate their virulence in the gut. Additionally, there is growing evidence that gut dysbiosis can strongly affect host brain responses. Here we review different mechanisms that have been proposed to mediate gut–brain axis communication using Citrobacter rodentium, a natural murine enteric pathogen and one of the most widely used small animal models for studying host-microbe interactions. We highlight studies that have identified-specific pathways used by C. rodentium to sense host neurochemicals during colonization as well as behavioral responses and brain pathologies affected by pathogen colonization of the gut.

肠-脑轴在维持胃肠道稳态中起关键作用。几种肠道病原体已经开发出感知神经化学分子以调节其在肠道中的毒力的策略。此外，越来越多的证据表明肠道菌群失调会强烈影响宿主大脑的反应。在这里，我们回顾了已经提出的使用柠檬酸杆菌介导肠-脑轴通讯的不同机制，柠檬酸杆菌是一种天然的鼠肠道病原体，也是研究宿主-微生物相互作用的最广泛使用的小动物模型之一。我们重点介绍了已确定C.rodentium使用的特定途径的研究在定植过程中感知宿主神经化学物质以及受肠道病原体定植影响的行为反应和大脑病理。