Dysregulated metabolism and behaviors by disrupting gut microbiota in prenatal and neonatal mice

Abstract

The live microbiota ecosystem in the intestine plays a critical role in maintaining the normal physiological and psychological functions in both animals and human beings. However, the chronic effect of microbiota disturbances during prenatal and neonatal developing periods on animal's health remains less studied. In the current study, pregnant ICR mice were fed with an antibiotic diet (7‐g nebacitin [bacitracin‐neomycin sulphate 2:1]/kg standard diet) from day 14 of conception, and their offspring were provided with the same diet till the termination of the experiments. Dams treated with antibiotics showed increased body weight along with enlarged gut. Antibiotic‐treated offspring revealed decreased bodyweight, increased food, water, and sucrose intake. Administration of antibiotics affected corticosterone responsivity to acute 20 min restraint challenge in male pups. In behavior tests, female pups showed decreased movement in open field while male pups revealed decreased latency to open arms in elevated plus maze test and immobility time in tail suspension test. Together, these results suggested that early antibiotic exposure may impact on the food intake, body weight gain, and emotional behavior regulation in mice.

Early life gut microbiota sustains liver-resident natural killer cells maturation via the butyrate-IL-18 axis

“…1a ). Similar to the literature 33 , early-Abx treatment slightly reduced the mouse body weight (Supplementary Fig. 1a ).…”

The gut microbiota modulate locomotion via vagus-dependent glucagon-like peptide-1 signaling

“…Most studies adopting similar ABX recipes did not observe any change in locomotion 20 – 22 , except for one study that showed increased locomotion 18 and another study that showed the opposite trend 19 . Another study adopting a single antibiotic in mice showed a reduction in locomotion, which was similar to our findings 62 , 63 . Both GF and antibiotic methods are powerful ways to eliminate commensal organisms.…”

Butterflies in the gut: the interplay between intestinal microbiota and stress

“…Two other studies showed that an acute [ 81 ] or chronic [ 59 ] gavage dosing of a single antibiotic in mice increased corticosterone levels upon acute stress exposure. Intriguingly, developmental treatment of mice with antibiotics reduced corticosterone levels under various conditions [ 47 , 82 , 83 ]. The treatment of rats with antibiotics yielded a reduction in corticosterone, indicating a model-dependent effect [ 84 , 85 ].…”