Priyanka P, Khullar S, Singh M, Morya AK, Sharma B, Periasamy B, Moharana B, Morya R. Role of gut microbiomes in different ocular pathologies: A systematic review. World J Gastrointest Pathophysiol 2025; 16(4): 113488 [DOI: 10.4291/wjgp.v16.i4.113488]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Arvind Kumar Morya, MD, Professor, Senior Researcher, Department of Ophthalmology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Bibi Nagar, Hyderabad 508126, Telangana, India. bulbul.morya@gmail.com
Research Domain of This Article
Ophthalmology
Article-Type of This Article
Systematic Reviews
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This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Dec 22, 2025 (publication date) through Dec 22, 2025
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Journal Information of This Article
Publication Name
World Journal of Gastrointestinal Pathophysiology
ISSN
2150-5330
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Baishideng Publishing Group Inc, 7041 Koll Center Parkway, Suite 160, Pleasanton, CA 94566, USA
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Priyanka P, Khullar S, Singh M, Morya AK, Sharma B, Periasamy B, Moharana B, Morya R. Role of gut microbiomes in different ocular pathologies: A systematic review. World J Gastrointest Pathophysiol 2025; 16(4): 113488 [DOI: 10.4291/wjgp.v16.i4.113488]
Priyanka Priyanka, Bhavana Sharma, Brindha Periasamy, Department of Ophthalmology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Bhopal 462020, Madhya Pradesh, India
Srishti Khullar, Department of Ophthalmology, Military Hospital, Agra 282001, Uttar Pradesh, India
Mamta Singh, Department of Ophthalmology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Rajkot, Rajkot 360110, Gujarāt, India
Arvind Kumar Morya, Department of Ophthalmology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Hyderabad 508126, Telangana, India
Bruttendu Moharana, Department of Ophthalmology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Bhubaneshwar 751019, Odisha, India
Rannusha Morya, Department of Psychology, Manipal University, Jaipur 303007, Rājasthān, India
Co-first authors: Priyanka Priyanka and Srishti Khullar.
Author contributions: Sharma B and Morya AK conceptualized and prospectively registered this systematic review at Prospero; Maharana B and Morya R did the literature search; Priyanka P, Khullar S, Singh M, Morya AK, and Periasamy B wrote the manuscript; Sharma B and Morya AK revised the manuscript and submitted it.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All authors declare that they have no conflict of interest to disclose.
PRISMA 2009 Checklist statement: The authors have read the PRISMA 2009 Checklist, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the PRISMA 2009 Checklist.
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Arvind Kumar Morya, MD, Professor, Senior Researcher, Department of Ophthalmology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Bibi Nagar, Hyderabad 508126, Telangana, India. bulbul.morya@gmail.com
Received: August 27, 2025 Revised: September 21, 2025 Accepted: December 2, 2025 Published online: December 22, 2025 Processing time: 117 Days and 17.4 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND
The gut microbiome is integral to human health, with emerging research underscoring its potential impact on ocular health through the gut-eye axis. Various ocular disorders, such as dry eye syndrome, retinal vascular diseases, macular degeneration, and glaucoma, may be influenced by gut dysbiosis, which could significantly contribute to their development and progression.
AIM
To evaluate the influence of the gut microbiome on the pathogenesis and progression of various ocular diseases.
METHODS
An extensive search of the scientific literature was undertaken by adhering to Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews & Meta-Analyses standards, using PubMed (MEDLINE), Scopus, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Library as sources to locate studies addressing the relationship between the gut microbiome and human health. To capture all relevant publications, search terms were systematically applied across these major databases, without limiting the search by language or publication date. Inclusion criteria covered randomized controlled trials, non-randomized controlled trial, prospective studies, cross-sectional studies, and case-control studies. Out of the 3077 articles, 36 full texts were included in the review.
RESULTS
Ocular health appears to be shaped by the gut microbial community through mechanisms such as immune regulation, preservation of the blood–retinal barrier, and the generation of protective metabolites. Disturbances in this microbial balance can provoke measurable alterations in host immunity, providing a plausible immunopathogenic pathway that connects intestinal dysbiosis with eye disease. Both laboratory models and early human data suggest that targeted interventions, including prebiotics, probiotics, synbiotics, and faecal microbiota transfer, hold therapeutic potential.
CONCLUSION
The gut–eye relationship reflects a multifaceted interaction in which the intestinal microbiome contributes to ocular health through complex biological pathways. Integrating microbiome assessments into diagnostic methods can revolutionize disease management through early detection and targeted interventions. Further, randomised controlled clinical trials are necessary for ocular diseases to prove causal relationships.
Core Tip: The gut microbiome significantly influences ocular health through immune modulation, metabolic interactions, and maintenance of physiological barriers. Dysbiosis is linked to the onset and progression of major eye diseases such as uveitis, macular degeneration, dry eye, and glaucoma. Therapeutic interventions—including prebiotics, probiotics, synbiotics, and fecal microbiota transplantation—show promising results in preclinical and preliminary human studies, although further large-scale clinical trials are warranted to confirm their efficacy and safety in the context of ocular disease management.
