In a recent study, the ability of the hippocampus area of the brain to generate new neurons was found to be less negatively impacted by disruptions in the gut microbiota of rats, provided they were physically active. This shielded them from the cognitive deficits seen in sedentary mice with disturbed gut microbiome. Translational Psychiatry reported the research findings.
Neurons in the human brain often cease to divide not long after birth. The brain continues to evolve after this early phase by forming new connections between neurons, although new neurons are not usually created. Nonetheless, there are a few outliers.
The brain region responsible for memory formation and spatial navigation, the hippocampus, continues to be able to produce new neurons. Adult hippocampal neurogenesis is the term for this.
According to recent research, the trillions of microbes that reside in the gut, or gut microbiota, have an impact on the hippocampus's capacity to produce new neurons. The microbiota-gut-brain axis is a bidirectional connection that facilitates the influence of gut microbes on brain activities and vice versa.
Previous research, according to study author Sarah Nicolas and her colleagues, suggests that exercise improves rats' cognitive abilities. Previous studies have also demonstrated that exercise can enhance adult hippocampal neurogenesis in rats, or the hippocampal regions' capacity to produce new neurons. The aim of this study was to investigate if alteration of gut microbiota could have detrimental effects on hippocampus neurogenesis, and if this could also be mitigated by exercise.
They worked using 9-week-old Sprague-Dawley rats, a popular strain of rats in science studies, in a number of trials. Rats were housed in a 12 h × 12 h light-dark cycle, meaning that lights were on for half the day and off for the other. Food and drink were freely available to them.
The rats were split into two groups at random by the researchers: one for exercise and the other for inactivity. To further break down or alter their gut microbiota, each of these two groups was then split into two subgroups: one group that would receive antibiotic therapy and the other that would not.Drinking water containing dissolved antibiotics was given to the rats as part of their antibiotic treatment. The inactive group was kept in ordinary cages without running wheels, while the exercise group was kept in cages with free access to a running wheel. The number of wheel spins during jogging was counted by researchers to make sure the exercise group was performing the required amount of physical activity.
The rats underwent a battery of behavioral tests to evaluate their cognitive functioning three weeks into these treatments. Following this,
The findings demonstrated that neither the rats' body weight nor their amount of running activity was altered by antibiotic-induced disturbance of the gut microbiota. It did, however, cause mild peripheral irritation. The alteration in gut flora had no effect on hippocampal metabolism.In contrast to rats with an intact gut microbiota, those with a disturbed microbiome and a sedentary lifestyle fared poorly on behavioral tests meant to evaluate cognitive function and displayed more anxiety-like behaviors. Exercise attenuated these deleterious alterations, since exercise-affected rats did not exhibit disturbed microbiota.
Disruption of the gut microbiome decreased hippocampus neurogenesis; however, this effect was lessened in the exercise group. Through the analysis of particular biological components linked to these alterations, the researchers determined the degree of expression.
We found that while there were drastic changes in the caecal metabolome (the metabolites found in the caecum, a pouch-like structure at the junction of the small and large intestines), exercise was only partially effective in reversing the behavioral and neurogenic changes caused by disruption of the gut microbiota. These impairments also occurred without significant changes in the hippocampal metabolome, a set of compounds indicative of the metabolic activity of the hippocampus."When considered collectively, these findings underscore the significance of gut microbiota in AHN-dependent behaviors [behaviors that rely on adult hippocampal neurogenesis] and exhibit the ability of lifestyle factors, like voluntary exercise, to mitigate these modifications," the study's authors wrote.
The research clarifies how exercise maintains adult hippocampus neurogenesis. Nevertheless, rats were used in this investigation. Despite having many physiological similarities, rats and humans are nonetheless quite distinct animals. It's possible that the impacts on humans are different.
0 Comments