Crisis in the Gut: Navigating Gastrointestinal Challenges in Gulf War Illness with Bioengineering

Overview

Journal Mil Med Res

Publisher Biomed Central

Specialty Emergency Medicine

Date 2024 Jul 8

PMID 38978144

Authors

Claudia A Collier

Aelita Salikhova

Sufiyan Sabir

Steven Foncerrada

Shreya A Raghavan

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Gulf War Illness (GWI) is characterized by a wide range of symptoms that manifests largely as gastrointestinal symptoms. Among these gastrointestinal symptoms, motility disorders are highly prevalent, presenting as chronic constipation, stomach pain, indigestion, diarrhea, and other conditions that severely impact the quality of life of GWI veterans. However, despite a high prevalence of gastrointestinal impairments among these veterans, most research attention has focused on neurological disturbances. This perspective provides a comprehensive overview of current in vivo research advancements elucidating the underlying mechanisms contributing to gastrointestinal disorders in GWI. Generally, these in vivo and in vitro models propose that neuroinflammation alters gut motility and drives the gastrointestinal symptoms reported in GWI. Additionally, this perspective highlights the potential and challenges of in vitro bioengineering models, which could be a crucial contributor to understanding and treating the pathology of gastrointestinal related-GWI.

Citing Articles

Gulf War Illness Is Associated with Host Gut Microbiome Dysbiosis and Is Linked to Altered Species Abundance in Veterans from the BBRAIN Cohort.

Trivedi A, Bose D, Moffat K, Pearson E, Walsh D, Cohen D Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2024; 21(8).

PMID: 39200711 PMC: 11354743. DOI: 10.3390/ijerph21081102.

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