研究发现肠道菌群可能会影响大脑海马体功能
Title：
Effects of gut microbiota on the microRNA and mRNA expression in the hippocampus of mice
Abstract：
Gut microbiota is increasingly recognized as an important environmental factor that could influence the brain function and behaviors through the microbiota-gut-brain axis. Here, we used the germ-free (GF) mice to explore the effect of gut microbiota on hippocampal microRNA (miRNA) and messenger RNAs (mRNAs) expression. Behavioral tests showed that, compared to specific pathogen-free (SPF) mice, the GF mice displayed more center time, center distance and less latency to familiar food. Colonization of the GF mice with gut microbiota from SPF mice did not reverse these behaviors. However, 7 differentially expressed miRNAs and 139 mRNAs were significantly restored. Through microRNA Target Filter analysis, 4 of 7 restored miRNAs had 2232 target mRNAs. Among these target mRNAs, 21 target mRNAs levels were decreased. Further analysis showed that the most significant GO terms were metabolic process (GO: 0008152), binding (GO: 0005488) and cell part (GO: 0044464) for biological process, molecular function and cellular component, respectively, and the most significantly altered pathway was axon guidance (mmu04360). These findings indicated that colonization of gut microbiota to adolescent GF mice was not sufficient to reverse the behavioral alterations. Gut microbiota could significantly influence the expression levels of miRNAs and mRNAs in hippocampus. Our results could provide original and valuable data for researchers to further study the microbiota-gut-brain axis.
All Authors：
Jian-Jun Chen,Ben-Hua Zeng,Wen-Wen Li,Chan-Juan Zhou,Song-Hua Fan,Ke Cheng,Li Zeng,Peng Zheng,Liang Fang,Hong Wei,Peng Xie
First Authors：
Jian-Jun Chen
Correspondence：
Hong Wei,Peng Xie
摘要：
通过对无特定病原体（SPF）小鼠和无菌（GF）小鼠的比较，发现GF小鼠在行为学实验中表现出抗焦虑症状，指示肠道菌群的缺失可以抑制焦虑；通过移植SPF小鼠的肠道菌群，发现并不改变GF小鼠的抗焦虑特征，同时还发现菌群移植可恢复GF小鼠海马体7种miRNA和139种mRNA的表达水平，其中有4种miRNA和对应的21种mRNA与疾病、特定生化功能有一定的相关性；分析发现7种miRNA表达量的恢复与糖代谢、脂代谢、分子联结、细胞结构相关性显著，其中改变最显著的是神经元轴突导向相关的生化通路。