Association between Psychosocial Stress and Fecal Microbiota in Pregnant Women

Hechler, Christine; Borewicz, Klaudyna; Beijers, Roseriet; Saccenti, Edoardo; Riksen-Walraven, Marianne; Smidt, Hauke; Weerth, Carolina de

doi:10.1038/s41598-019-40434-8

Cited by 66 publications

(64 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…A stress-associated vaginal microbiome in female mice can be transmitted to the infant during birth, which in turn can impact the developing infant's health, metabolism, and stress response (Jašarevi c et al, 2015(Jašarevi c et al, , 2018. While the actual vertical transmission of stress-associated microbes has not yet been observed in humans, researchers have detected stress-associated microbial changes in the maternal human gut during pregnancy (Hechler et al, 2019). In addition, it has been shown that prenatal stress in pregnant monkeys alters the microbial composition of the infant gut (Bailey, Lubach, & Coe, 2004).…”

Section: Microbial Associations With Emotion and Social Behaviomentioning

confidence: 99%

The role of the microbiome in the neurobiology of social behaviour

et al. 2020

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Microbes colonise all multicellular life, and the gut microbiome has been shown to influence a range of host physiological and behavioural phenotypes. One of the most intriguing and least understood of these influences lies in the domain of the microbiome's interactions with host social behaviour, with new evidence revealing that the gut microbiome makes important contributions to animal sociality. However, little is known about the biological processes through which the microbiome might influence host social behaviour. Here, we synthesise evidence of the gut microbiome's interactions with various aspects of host sociality, including sociability, social cognition, social stress, and autism. We discuss evidence of microbial associations with the most likely physiological mediators of animal social interaction. These include the structure and function of regions of the ‘social' brain (the amygdala, the prefrontal cortex, and the hippocampus) and the regulation of ‘social’ signalling molecules (glucocorticoids including corticosterone and cortisol, sex hormones including testosterone, oestrogens, and progestogens, neuropeptide hormones such as oxytocin and arginine vasopressin, and monoamine neurotransmitters such as serotonin and dopamine). We also discuss microbiome‐associated host genetic and epigenetic processes relevant to social behaviour. We then review research on microbial interactions with olfaction in insects and mammals, which contribute to social signalling and communication. Following these discussions, we examine evidence of microbial associations with emotion and social behaviour in humans, focussing on psychobiotic studies, microbe–depression correlations, early human development, autism, and issues of statistical power, replication, and causality. We analyse how the putative physiological mediators of the microbiome–sociality connection may be investigated, and discuss issues relating to the interpretation of results. We also suggest that other candidate molecules should be studied, insofar as they exert effects on social behaviour and are known to interact with the microbiome. Finally, we consider different models of the sequence of microbial effects on host physiological development, and how these may contribute to host social behaviour.

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Section: Microbial Associations With Emotion and Social Behaviomentioning

confidence: 99%

The role of the microbiome in the neurobiology of social behaviour

et al. 2020

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“…40 It was recently shown that there are associations between anxiety and the fecal microbial composition during pregnancy. 41 Between 1 and 10% of pregnant women take SSRI antidepressants, 40 further highlighting the relevance of a potential effect of SSRI medication during this period on the gut microbiota and its metabolic output.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Antidepressant treatment with fluoxetine during pregnancy and lactation modulates the gut microbiome and metabolome in a rat model relevant to depression

et al. 2020

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Up to 10% of women use selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) antidepressants during pregnancy and postpartum. Recent evidence suggests that SSRIs are capable of altering the gut microbiota. However, the interaction between maternal depression and SSRI use on bacterial community composition and the availability of microbiota-derived metabolites during pregnancy and lactation is not clear. We studied this using a rat model relevant to depression, where adult females with a genetic vulnerability and stressed as pups show depressive-like behaviors. Throughout pregnancy and lactation, females received the SSRI fluoxetine or vehicle. High-resolution 16S ribosomal RNA marker gene sequencing and targeted metabolomic analysis were used to assess the fecal microbiome and metabolite availability, respectively. Not surprisingly, we found that pregnancy and lactation segregate in terms of fecal microbiome diversity and composition, accompanied by changes in metabolite availability. However, we also showed that fluoxetine treatment altered important features of this transition from pregnancy to lactation most clearly in previously stressed dams, with lower fecal amino acid concentrations. Amino acid concentrations, in turn, correlated negatively with the relative abundance of bacterial taxa such as Prevotella and Bacteroides. Our study demonstrates an important relationship between antidepressant use during the perinatal period and maternal fecal metabolite availability in a rat model relevant to depression, possibly through parallel changes in the gut microbiome. Since microbial metabolites contribute to homeostasis and development, insults to the maternal microbiome by SSRIs might have health consequences for mother and offspring.

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“…Our correlation analysis showed that there was a positive correlation between white matter integrity and the relative abundance of Holdemania and Eubacterium. These bacteria are both known to be changed in abundances in other disorders: Holdemania is increased in individuals with MDD [67][68][69], and Eubacterium is decreased in children with ASD [70]. However, to our knowledge, this is the first study that found significant correlations between these bacteria and brain structural and functional changes.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 78%

Gut microbiota from persons with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder affects the brain in mice

Tengeler¹,

Dam

Wiesmann³

et al. 2020

Microbiome

101

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Background: The impact of the gut microbiota on host physiology and behavior has been relatively well established. Whether changes in microbial composition affect brain structure and function is largely elusive, however. This is important as altered brain structure and function have been implicated in various neurodevelopmental disorders, like attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). We hypothesized that gut microbiota of persons with and without ADHD, when transplanted into mice, would differentially modify brain function and/or structure. We investigated this by colonizing young, male, germ-free C57BL/6JOlaHsd mice with microbiota from individuals with and without ADHD. We generated and analyzed microbiome data, assessed brain structure and function by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and studied mouse behavior in a behavioral test battery.Results: Principal coordinate analysis showed a clear separation of fecal microbiota of mice colonized with ADHD and control microbiota. With diffusion tensor imaging, we observed a decreased structural integrity of both white and gray matter regions (i.e., internal capsule, hippocampus) in mice that were colonized with ADHD microbiota. We also found significant correlations between white matter integrity and the differentially expressed microbiota. Mice colonized with ADHD microbiota additionally showed decreased resting-state functional MRI-based connectivity between right motor and right visual cortices. These regions, as well as the hippocampus and internal capsule, have previously been reported to be altered in several neurodevelopmental disorders. Furthermore, we also show that mice colonized with ADHD microbiota were more anxious in the open-field test. Conclusions: Taken together, we demonstrate that altered microbial composition could be a driver of altered brain structure and function and concomitant changes in the animals' behavior. These findings may help to understand the mechanisms through which the gut microbiota contributes to the pathobiology of neurodevelopmental disorders.

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Association between Psychosocial Stress and Fecal Microbiota in Pregnant Women

Cited by 66 publications

References 49 publications

The role of the microbiome in the neurobiology of social behaviour

The role of the microbiome in the neurobiology of social behaviour

Antidepressant treatment with fluoxetine during pregnancy and lactation modulates the gut microbiome and metabolome in a rat model relevant to depression

Gut microbiota from persons with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder affects the brain in mice

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