Dysbiosis in Gastrointestinal Pathophysiology: Role of the Gut Microbiome in Gulf War Illness

Gulf War Illness (GWI) has been reported in 25%-35% of veterans returned from the Gulf war. Symptoms of GWI are varied and include both neurological and gastrointestinal symptoms as well as chronic fatigue. Development of GWI has been associated with chemical exposure particularly with exposure to pyridostigmine bromide (PB) and permethrin. Recent studies have found that the pathology of GWI is connected to changes in the gut microbiota, that is the gut dysbiosis. In studies using animal models, the exposure to PB and permethrin resulted in similar changes in the gut microbiome as these found in GW veterans with GWI. Studies using animal models have also shown that phytochemicals like curcumin are beneficial in reducing the symptoms and that the extracellular vesicles (EV) released from gut bacteria and from the intestinal epithelium can both promote diseases and suppress diseases through the intercellular communication mechanisms. The intestinal epithelium cells produce EVs and these EVs of intestinal epithelium origin are found to suppress inflammatory bowel disease severity, suggesting the benefits of utilizing EV in treatments. On the contrary, EV from the plasma of septic mice enhanced the level of proinflammatory cytokines in vitro and neutrophils and macrophages in vivo, suggesting differences in the EV depending on the types of cells they were originated and/or influences of environmental changes. These studies suggest that targeting the EV that specifically have positive influences may become a new therapeutic strategy in the treatment of veterans with GWI.