Digestive Disorders and Mental Health

Gastrointestinal disorders are a group of disorders that affect the gastrointestinal tract, which impacts physiological function concerning the absorption and digestion of food and exerting a significant impact on a patient's health-related quality of life. In cases of irritable bowel syndrome, there is no clear pathogenesis.

The most common gastrointestinal disorder is irritable bowel syndrome, which predominantly affects the lower gastrointestinal tractPatients who have gastrointestinal disorders also have high psychiatric comorbidity. This is because the gastrointestinal tract and the brain are intimately connected through bidirectional neural, endocrine, and immune pathways. Collectively, these pathways are referred to as the gut-brain axis (GBA). This complex communication system ensures the homeostasis of the gastrointestinal tract and influences the motivation for processing higher cognitive functions.

What is the gut-brain axis?

The gut-brain access includes the central nervous system, the autonomic nervous system, the enteric nervous system, and the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, as well as signaling mediated by gut peptides. The role of the GBA is to integrate functional activity in the gut and to link the emotional and cognitive centers in the brain with the peripheral functions of the intestine, along with their mechanisms. These include satiety, appetite, immune activation, intestinal permeability, enteroendocrine signaling, and enteric reflexes.

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