The O16:H48 strain MG1655 was first detected in the human gut, but until nowIt was believed that it had no effect
“This is the first demonstration that intestinalMicrobiota is important for healthy maternal behavior and bonding between mother and offspring. The discovery complements the knowledge that there is a connection between the gut and the brain, and that microbes are important in regulating the behavior of the host that they inhabit. "
Janelle Ayres, Professor, Head of the Salk Laboratory of Molecular and Systems Physiology
Ways by which microbiota canto influence mental health and neurological disorders are actively being researched today. It has already been shown that the composition of the gut microbiota in humans is associated with depression, anxiety, autism and other conditions. But it has been difficult to study how individual strains of bacteria affect human behavior, and this relationship is often referred to as the microbiota-gut-brain axis.
In his laboratory, Ayres uses mice tostudy how the systems of the body and the brain interact with each other, or how microbes regulate processes in the body and how microbes influence its growth and behavior. Scientists studied groups of mice, each with one E. coli strain in their intestines - O16: H48 MG1655. Such mice carried offspring with growth retardation, this effect arose due to malnutrition "
“We found that the behavior of the cubs wasnormal, and the milk produced by the mothers was of normal, healthy composition and produced in normal quantities, Ayres says. “In the end, we found out that colonization with this particular bacterium led to poor maternal behavior. The mice just neglected their cubs. "
Additional experiments have shown that micecan be saved from stunted growth by either giving them a growth factor called IGF-1, or by giving them to foster mice mice who can take care of them properly. This confirmed that the reason for the stunted growth lies in the behavior of the mother, and not in the cubs themselves.
“Our research provides unprecedented insight intohow gut microbiota can disrupt maternal behavior and how it can negatively affect offspring development, says first author Yujung Michelle Lee. “I am very interested in the fact that the establishment of a healthy relationship between mother and baby is due not only to hormones, but also to the microorganisms that inhabit our bodies.”
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