Early exposure to food contaminants reshapes maturation of the human brain-gut-microbiota axis

Figure 2 Impact of food contaminants on gut homeostasis settlement and stability. A: At birth the intestinal epithelial environment is still immature with fairly no secretion, very few microorganisms and immature neuro-immuno-endocrine interactions; B: These interactions settle progressively during infancy and childhood to be fully functional at adulthood; C: However, when the conditions are not met and more especially if the child has been submitted during the fetal stage and infant stage to food contaminants, this might be at the origin of gut homeostasis misshaping observed at adulthood. This could then be responsible for gut permeability increase responsible for a mild “leaky gut”, predisposing to intestinal neuro-immuno-endocrine communications alterations. This will in turn be at the origin of systemic neuro-immuno-endocrine communication misshaping contributing to an alteration of crosstalk between the brain and the gut.