Gut microbiota: Historical essay and role in nephrology

The article covers the main stages of intestinal microbiota (MB) research from ancient to modern times and addresses the features of the interaction between intestinal MB and renal diseases, the gut-kidney axis. It is believed that for the first time, MB was mentioned in one of the treatises of Ayurveda, “Caraka-Samhitā” (700–100 BC), and the first use of probiotics was mentioned in Ancient China (1000 BC). In the 1670s, Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, using an advanced microscope, described protozoa and bacteria, including intestinal MB. Later, in parallel with the discoveries of Louis Pasteur and Robert Koch, intestinal MB was a subject for research, with studies by Theodor Escherich, Henri Tissier, and our compatriots S.N. Vinogradsky and I.I. Mechnikov playing an important role. The next stage in the study of intestinal MB dates back to 1994 with the beginning of the use of 16s rRNA sequencing, metascience, and the organization of global projects for the MB study, the Human Microbiome Project and METAgenomics of the Human Intestinal Tract, the purpose of which is to study its composition and interaction with the body. An example of such an interaction is the gut-kidney axis, which reflects the metabolic relationship of the kidneys and intestinal MB. Within the context of this axis, the potential therapeutic possibilities of pro-, prebiotics and synbiotics in kidney diseases are investigated. However, despite advances in the field, further research is needed to develop of the most optimal strategy for correcting microbiota disorders, including in chronic kidney diseases.