This review examines how the gut microbiota mediates the relationship between environmental neurotoxicant exposures (from diet, pharmaceuticals, and contaminants) and neurological health, covering both direct microbial metabolism of xenobiotics and microbiota-driven modulation of host detoxification, barrier integrity, and immune signaling.
The review synthesizes evidence that gut microbiota shape xenobiotic fate through direct metabolic transformation and by modulating host detoxification pathways, positioning microbial composition as a key risk-modifying factor between environmental exposures and brain outcomes.
As a narrative review, it does not provide original experimental data or meta-analytic effect sizes; causal directionality between microbiota changes and neurotoxicant outcomes remains largely unestablished in human studies.
Clinicians should consider gut microbiota status as a potential modifier of neurotoxicant risk when evaluating patients with high environmental exposures. Microbiota-targeted interventions may represent a future strategy to reduce neurological harm from environmental contaminants, though clinical evidence is still emerging.
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