RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 The gut microbiome regulates memory function
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 2020.06.16.153809
DO 10.1101/2020.06.16.153809
A1 Emily E Noble
A1 Elizabeth Davis
A1 Linda Tsan
A1 Yen-Wei Chen
A1 Christine A. Olson
A1 Ruth Schade
A1 Clarissa Liu
A1 Andrea Suarez
A1 Roshonda B Jones
A1 Michael I Goran
A1 Claire de La Serre
A1 Xia Yang
A1 Elaine Y. Hsiao
A1 Scott E Kanoski
YR 2020
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2020/06/18/2020.06.16.153809.abstract
AB The mammalian gastrointestinal tract contains a diverse ecosystem of microbial species collectively making up the gut microbiota. Emerging evidence highlights a critical relationship between gut microbiota and neurocognitive development. Consumption of unhealthy yet palatable dietary factors associated with obesity and metabolic dysfunction (e.g., saturated fat, added sugar) alters the gut microbiota and negatively impacts neurocognitive function, particularly when consumed during early life developmental periods. Here we explore whether excessive early life consumption of added sugars negatively impacts neurocognitive development via the gut microbiome. Using a rodent model of habitual sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) consumption during the adolescent stage of development, we first show that excessive early life sugar intake impairs hippocampal-dependent memory function when tested during adulthood while preserving other neurocognitive domains. 16S rRNA gene sequencing of the fecal and cecal microbiota reveals that early life SSB consumption alters the relative abundance of various bacterial taxa. In particular, SSB elevates fecal operational taxonomic units within the genus Parabacteroides, which negatively correlate with memory task performance. Additional results reveal that transferred enrichment of Parabacteroides species P. distasonis and P. johnsonii in adolescent rats impairs memory function during adulthood. Hippocampus transcriptome analyses identify gene expression alterations in neurotransmitter synaptic signaling, intracellular kinase signaling, metabolic function, neurodegenerative disease, and dopaminergic synaptic signaling-associated pathways as potential mechanisms linking bacterial alterations with memory impairment. Collectively these results identify a role for microbiota “dysbiosis” in mediating the negative effects of early life unhealthy dietary factors on neurocognitive outcomes.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.