Post-operative cognitive dysfunction and the gut microbiome

During recovery from surgical interventions and post-operative pain approximately 35 % of patients at all ages exhibit cognitive deficits such as reduced cognitive flexibility, difficulty in multitasking and planning tasks requiring attention. Globally, more than 320 million people have surgery each year, and postoperative cognitive dysfunction (POCD) at 3 months post- op still affects 12 %, corresponding to more than 30 million people. Despite this considerable socioeconomic burden POCD pathogenesis remains largely unknown. Whereas POCD has traditionally been considered as direct consequence of surgical intervention or anesthesia, POCDMiBiOME shifts the focus from a brain-restricted to a body- brain-body concept based on recent findings in the novel research area of gut-brain- communication. We consider POCD at least in part as a consequence of a disturbed body- brain communication involving the gut microbiome as the crucial influencing factor disturbing the homeostasis of the whole organism. Using cutting-edge innovative models and RNA sequencing including bioinformatics we will provide novel mechanistic insights into how the microbiome is affected by neurons in the gut and in turn affects neuronal functions. With its highly innovative concept and ambitious approach POCDMiBiOME will untangle the consequences of surgery inducing pain with a neuropathic component and the involved mechanisms, and for the first time target enteric neurons with a chemogenetic approach to modify microbiota composition and abundance.

During recovery from surgical interventions and post-operative pain approximately 35 % of patients at all ages exhibit cognitive deficits such as reduced cognitive flexibility, difficulty in multitasking and planning tasks requiring attention. Globally, more than 320 million people have surgery each year, and postoperative cognitive dysfunction (POCD) at 3 months post-op still affects 12 %, corresponding to more than 30 million people. Despite this considerable socioeconomic burden POCD pathogenesis remains largely unknown. Whereas POCD has traditionally been considered as direct consequence of surgical intervention or anesthesia, POCDMiBiOME shifts the focus from a brain-restricted to a body-brain-body concept based on recent findings in the novel research area of gut-brain-communication. We consider POCD at least in part as a consequence of a disturbed body-brain communication involving the gut microbiome as the crucial influencing factor disturbing the homeostasis of the whole organism. Using cutting-edge innovative models and RNA sequencing including bioinformatics we will provide novel mechanistic insights into how the microbiome is affected by neurons in the gut and in turn affects neuronal functions. With its highly innovative concept and ambitious approach POCDMiBiOME will untangle the consequences of surgery inducing pain with a neuropathic component and the involved mechanisms, and for the first time target enteric neurons with a chemogenetic approach to modify microbiota composition and abundance.