Gut microbiota and Parkinson’s disease: exploring pathogenesis and potential therapeutic strategies from a gut-brain axis perspective

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a prevalent neurodegenerative disorder with a global prevalence exceeding 1‰, posing a significant public health challenge. Although the pathogenesis of PD is not yet fully elucidated, accumulating evidence suggests that it results from the interplay between genetic and environmental factors, highlighting its multifactorial nature. With advances in translational medicine, the gut has emerged as a critical participant in PD onset and progression. This review systematically summarizes the role of the gut in PD, particularly emphasizing potential mechanisms involving neuroinflammation in the central nervous system (CNS), pathological aggregation of α-synuclein (α-syn), and mitochondrial dysfunction. Furthermore, gut-targeted therapeutic strategies for PD are discussed, including fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT), gut-directed anti-inflammatory therapies, supplementation with gut microbiota-derived metabolites such as short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), and interventions targeting α-syn aggregation. A deeper understanding of these mechanisms not only advances the pathological knowledge of PD but also provides theoretical foundations for the early diagnosis and innovative treatment of the disease.