Shari B. Kaplan explores whether transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) can alter the gut microbiome. A University of Florence study found TMS changed microbiome composition in cocaine addiction patients, though the mechanism remains unclear. Inflammation, vagal nerve activation, or mood shifts may play a role.
You know, it's very interesting because we now know about the microbiome, right? Our skin has microbiome, our gut has microbiome, our brain has microbiome. And it's very interesting to think that the TMS would also affect their activity.
There was a study a couple of years ago in patients with cocaine addiction at University of Florence, and it showed that TMS changed the gut microbiome of these patients. Whether it's because of there was a change in these inflammatory molecules, maybe because of brain stimulation that reached the vagal nerve, change in anxiety, change in depression, we don't know. Nobody has a mechanism for that. But gut microbiome, this one study showed that is changed by, by TMS.
