Brain Behav Immun. 2026 May 4:106795. doi: 10.1016/j.bbi.2026.106795. Online ahead of print.
ABSTRACT
Westernized diets (WDs)-high in fat and sugar and low in fiber-produce somatosensory deficits, chronic pain, and neuropathy, yet the mechanisms linking diet to peripheral nervous system (PNS) pathology remain incompletely defined. Emerging evidence implicates gut-derived metabolites in sensory homeostasis; for example, fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) from lean donors to WD fed mice reduces hypersensitivity and attenuates PNS inflammation potentially via modifying short chain fatty acid (SCFA) levels, although FMT outcomes are variable. We therefore tested whether targeted modulation of the gut microbiota with fermentable complex carbohydrates (inulin) producing SCFA could reproducibly improve somatosensory function in WD-fed mice. Using an integrated pipeline-behavioral and physiological assays, peripheral nerve electrophysiology, and molecular and immune profiling-we show that inulin improved thermal and mechanical sensory function indirectly by improving metabolic health and remodeling immune cells in adipose tissue depots. Interestingly, in separate genetic experiments we found that deletion of the SCFA receptor FFAR2 (GPR43) in myeloid cells altered thermal sensitivity and adipose inflammatory gene expression, indicating that immune SCFA sensing can modulate pain-related behavior. These findings identify mechanisms by which dietary fiber indirectly preserves PNS function through effects on adiposity and systemic inflammation and provide a tractable alternative to FMT for mitigating WD-associated sensory neuropathy.
PMID:42092466 | DOI:10.1016/j.bbi.2026.106795