Effects of interactions between intestinal microbiota and intestinal macrophages on health.

Macrophages reside in every tissue of the body and play an important role in maintaining homeostasis. The intestinal mucosa is the largest immune organ and harbors macrophages in abundance. Dysfunction of intestinal macrophages is characteristic of patients with certain inflammatory bowel diseases. Although intestinal macrophages exhibit hyporesponsiveness to foreign substances, including various bacterial products, their physiological functions are unknown, but may be related to the contribution of intestinal bacteria to the maintenance of various physiological functions of the host. Moreover, recent reports suggest that there are associations between intestinal microbiota and the onset of pathologies, such as diverse metabolic syndromes, depression, and cancer. Evidence indicates that the host's immune response to intestinal microbiota may be etiologically-linked to these diseases; however, the mechanisms are poorly understood. In the present review, we discuss the possibility that intestinal microbiota influence health through the function of intestinal macrophages.

巨噬细胞存在于身体的每一个组织中，在维持内稳态方面发挥着重要作用。肠黏膜是最大的免疫器官，含有大量巨噬细胞。肠道巨噬细胞功能失调是某些炎症性肠病患者的特征。尽管肠道巨噬细胞对外来物质（包括各种细菌产物）表现出低反应性，但其生理功能尚不明确，但可能与肠道细菌对维持宿主各种生理功能的作用有关。此外，近期的报道表明，肠道微生物群与多种病理状况（如各种代谢综合征、抑郁症和癌症）的发病之间存在关联。有证据表明，宿主对肠道微生物群的免疫反应可能在病因上与这些疾病相关；然而，其机制尚不清楚。在本综述中，我们探讨了肠道微生物群通过肠道巨噬细胞的功能影响健康的可能性。