A Possible Link between Food and Mood: Dietary Impact on Gut Microbiota and Behavior in BALB/c Mice

Abstract

Major depressive disorder is a debilitating disease in the Western World. A western diet high in saturated fat and refined sugar seems to play an important part in disease development. Therefore, this study is aimed at investigating whether saturated fat or sucrose predisposes mice to develop behavioral symptoms which can be interpreted as depression-like, and the possible influence of the gut microbiota (GM) in this. Fourty-two mice were randomly assigned to one of three experimental diets, a high-fat, a high-sucrose or a control diet for thirteen weeks. Mice on high-fat diet gained more weight (p = 0.00009), displayed significantly less burrowing behavior than the control mice (p = 0.034), and showed decreased memory in the Morris water maze test compared to mice on high-sucrose diet (p = 0.031). Mice on high-sucrose diet burrowed less goal-oriented, showed greater latency to first bout of immobility in the forced swim test when compared to control mice (p = 0.039) and high-fat fed mice (p = 0.013), and displayed less anxiety than mice on high-fat diet in the triple test (p = 0.009). Behavioral changes were accompanied by a significant change in GM composition of mice fed a high-fat diet, while no difference between diet groups was observed for sucrose preferences, LPS, cholesterol, HbA1c, BDNF and the cytokines IL-1α, IL-1β, IL-6, IL-10, IL-12(p70), IL-17 and TNF-α. A series of correlations was found between GM, behavior, BDNF and inflammatory mediators. In conclusion, the study shows that dietary fat and sucrose affect behavior, sometimes in opposite directions, and suggests a possible association between GM and behavior.

Sensitivity to oxazolone induced dermatitis is transferable with gut microbiota in mice

“…Germ-free status was tested both by culturing and PCR methods30. DNA extractions was made with the mobio Powerlyzer Powersoil DNA isolation kit (Mo bio laboratories, inc., Carlsbad, CA) following manufactures instructions.…”

Enteral but not parenteral antibiotics enhance gut function and prevent necrotizing enterocolitis in formula-fed newborn preterm pigs

“…Total DNA of the colon and distal small intestinal content were extracted, and the total colonic bacterial load was quantified by qPCR by a 7500 Fast Real-Time PCR System (Applied Biosystems, Foster City, CA) using Escherichia coli K12 as positive control and standard as previously described (16). Distal intestinal and colonic microbiota composition was determined by tag-encoded 16S rRNA gene MiSeq-based (Illumina, San Diego, CA) high-throughput amplicon sequencing (7,36). Sequencing data were analyzed using the QIIME pipeline (Quantitative Insights Into Microbial Ecology), and analysis of similarity (ANOSIM) was applied to evaluate differences in bacterial distribution among the groups as previously reported (7).…”

Early gradual feeding with bovine colostrum improves gut function and NEC resistance relative to infant formula in preterm pigs

“…The fecal bacterial microbiota composition was determined by use of tag-encoded 16S rRNA gene MiSeq-based (Illumina, CA) highthroughput sequencing on DNA isolated from a mix of fecal content from the entire length of the colon. DNA storage condition, cellular DNA extraction, and sequencing library preparation steps were conducted as previously described (49,54). The open source software package Quantitative Insight Into Microbial Ecology (QIIME, version 1.7.0) and CLC Genomic Workbench 7 (CLC Bio, Aarhus, Denmark) were used to analyze the sequencing data as previously described (12,20,40,49,54).…”