Characterization of Early Life Stress-Affected Gut Microbiota

Early life stress (ELS), such as neglect and maltreatment, exhibits a strong impact on the mental and brain development of children. However, it is not fully understood how ELS affects the body and behavior of children. Therefore, in this study, we performed social isolation on weaned pre-adolescent...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Noriyoshi Usui, Hideo Matsuzaki, Shoichi Shimada
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2021-07-01
Series:Brain Sciences
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3425/11/7/913
Description
Summary:Early life stress (ELS), such as neglect and maltreatment, exhibits a strong impact on the mental and brain development of children. However, it is not fully understood how ELS affects the body and behavior of children. Therefore, in this study, we performed social isolation on weaned pre-adolescent mice and investigated how ELS could affect gut microbiota and mouse behavior. Using the metagenomics approach, we detected an overall ELS-related change in the gut microbiota and identified <i>Bacteroidales</i> and <i>Clostridiales</i> as significantly altered bacterial groups. These metagenomic alterations impaired social behavior in ELS mice, which also correlated with the abundance of <i>Bacteroidales</i> and <i>Clostridiales</i>. Our results demonstrate that ELS alters the gut microbiota and reduces social behavior in adolescent mice.
ISSN:2076-3425