Limosilactobacillus reuteri normalizes gut microbiota dysfunction and social deficits of rat offspring associated with prenatal exposure to stress - PubMed
6 hours ago
- #gut microbiota
- #prenatal stress
- #oxytocin
- Prenatal stress (PS) in rats leads to gut microbiota dysfunction and social behavior impairments in offspring, including reduced sociability and social novelty preference.
- Cohousing with normal offspring or fecal microbiota transplantation from control donors can partially rescue these social deficits.
- Limosilactobacillus reuteri (L. reuteri) is identified as a key species that is depleted in PS offspring and is crucial for normalizing social behavior.
- Supplementing L. reuteri during critical neurodevelopmental windows restores oxytocin levels in the paraventricular nucleus (PVN) and dopamine reward pathway function, ameliorating social deficits.
- The beneficial effects of L. reuteri are mediated through oxytocin signaling and vagal afferent pathways, as shown by their abolition with an oxytocin receptor antagonist or subdiaphragmatic vagotomy.
- The mechanism involves the gut microbiota-brain axis, where PS-induced depletion of L. reuteri disrupts vagus nerve-mediated oxytocinergic modulation of PVN-to-VTA dopaminergic circuits, leading to social impairments.