The Gut Microbiome and Migraine: Updates in Understanding

We provide an overview of the field of microbiome research, the current understanding of the microbiome-gut-brain axis, and the most recent updates on the interplay between migraine and the gut microbiome.

Pre-clinical studies suggest that gut microbiota is required for normal pain sensation. There is also evidence in rodent models that there is potential application of food, herbal medicines, probiotics, and short chain fatty acids (SCFAs) as novel therapies for migraine. Evidence from human cohorts suggests that there is altered gut microbiota in people with migraine, and that the microbiome dysbiosis is from both compositional and functional aspects. Recent metagenome-wide association studies (MWAS) that employ Mendelian Randomization support the causal association between gut microbiota and migraine. The connection between migraine and the gut microbiome remains underexplored, but recent preclinical and clinical studies support the association between gut microbiota and the development of migraine.