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Gut Microbiota and Bone Health

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Understanding the Gut-Bone Signaling Axis

Part of the book series: Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology ((AEMB,volume 1033))

Abstract

The past decade has seen an explosion of research in the area of how the bacteria that inhabit the human body impact health and disease. One of the more surprising concepts to emerge from this work is the ability of the intestinal microbiota to impact virtually all systems in the body. Recently, the role of gut bacteria in bone health and disease has received more significant attention. In this chapter, we review what has been learned about how the gut microbiome impacts bone health and discuss possible mechanisms of how the gut-bone axis may be connected. We also discuss the use of therapeutic microbes in the modulation of bone health. Finally, we propose an emerging field of the gut-brain-bone axis, in which the gut drives bone physiology via regulation of key hormones that are originally synthesized in the brain.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA

    Darin Quach

  2. Baylor College of Medicine, Department of Molecular Virology and Microbiology, Alkek Center for Metagenomics and Microbiome Research, Houston, TX, USA

    Robert A. Britton

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  1. Darin Quach
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Correspondence to Robert A. Britton .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physiology and Department of Radiology Biomedical Imaging Research Centre, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, USA

    Laura R. McCabe

  2. Comparative Medicine and Integrative Biology Program, East Lansing, Michigan, USA

    Narayanan Parameswaran

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Quach, D., Britton, R.A. (2017). Gut Microbiota and Bone Health. In: McCabe, L., Parameswaran, N. (eds) Understanding the Gut-Bone Signaling Axis. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, vol 1033. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-66653-2_4

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