RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 High-Fiber Diet Restores Maternal Obesity-Induced Cognitive and Social Behavioral Deficits in Offspring via Regulating Gut Microbiota-Metabolites-Brain Axis JF bioRxiv FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory SP 2020.07.16.206714 DO 10.1101/2020.07.16.206714 A1 Xiaoning Liu A1 Xiang Li A1 Bing Xia A1 Xin Jin A1 Zhenhua Zeng A1 Shikai Yan A1 Ling Li A1 Shufen Yuan A1 Shancen Zhao A1 Xiaoshuang Dai A1 Fei Yin A1 Enrique Cadenas A1 Rui Hai Liu A1 Beita Zhao A1 Min Hou A1 Zhigang Liu A1 Xuebo Liu YR 2020 UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2020/07/21/2020.07.16.206714.abstract AB Maternal obesity has been reported to be related to the neurodevelopmental disorders in offspring. The current study is aimed to examine the roles of diet on the gut microbiota and validating the microbiota-metabolites-brain axis as a major mechanism associated with cognitive and social behavioral changes in the offspring of maternal obesity. Here, a cross-sectional study on 778 children aged 7-14 years in two cities of China indicates that maternal obesity may lead to cognitive and social impairments. The animal research indicates that maternal obesity in mice disrupts cognitive and social behaviors and alters the microbiota composition in the offspring, which are prevented by a high-dietary fiber diet in either dams or offspring. Co-housing and feces microbiota transplantation experiments reveals a causal relationship between the microbiome- and the behavioral changes. Moreover, treatment of the microbial metabolites short-chain fatty acids exhibits a similar beneficial effect on alleviating the behavioral deficits in offspring. Together, our study purports the microbiota-metabolites-brain axis as a mechanism that could enable therapeutic strategies against maternal obesity-induced cognitive and social dysfunctions.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.