Neurobiological effects of a probiotic-supplemented diet in chronically stressed male Long-Evans rats: Evidence of enhanced resilience

Probiotics that regulate the microbiome-gut-brain axis and provide mental health benefits to the host are referred to as psychobiotics. Preclinical studies have demonstrated psychobiotic effects on early life stress-induced anxiety- and depression-related behavior in rodents; however, the specific m...

Descripción completa

Guardado en:
Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Nick R. Natale, Molly Kent, Nathan Fox, Dylan Vavra, Kelly Lambert
Formato: article
Lenguaje:EN
Publicado: Elsevier 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://doaj.org/article/9d87f07cce9847a39392c81e7f7b9ad7
Etiquetas: Agregar Etiqueta
Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!
id oai:doaj.org-article:9d87f07cce9847a39392c81e7f7b9ad7
record_format dspace
spelling oai:doaj.org-article:9d87f07cce9847a39392c81e7f7b9ad72021-11-20T05:16:09ZNeurobiological effects of a probiotic-supplemented diet in chronically stressed male Long-Evans rats: Evidence of enhanced resilience2667-242110.1016/j.ibneur.2021.10.004https://doaj.org/article/9d87f07cce9847a39392c81e7f7b9ad72021-12-01T00:00:00Zhttp://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667242121000464https://doaj.org/toc/2667-2421Probiotics that regulate the microbiome-gut-brain axis and provide mental health benefits to the host are referred to as psychobiotics. Preclinical studies have demonstrated psychobiotic effects on early life stress-induced anxiety- and depression-related behavior in rodents; however, the specific mechanisms remain ill-defined. In the current study, we investigated the effects of probiotic supplementation on neurobiological responses to chronic stress in adult male Long-Evans rats. Twenty-four rats were randomly assigned to probiotic (PB) or vehicle control (VEH) groups, then to either chronic unpredictable stress (CUS) or no-stress control (CON) conditions within each group (n = 6/subgroup). We hypothesized that PB supplementation would reduce markers of anxiety and enhance emotional resilience, especially in the CUS animals. In the cognitive uncertainty task, a nonsignificant trend was observed indicating that the PB-supplemented animals spent more time oriented toward the food reward than VEH animals. In the open-field task, CUS-PB animals spent more time in the center of the arena than CUS-VEH animals, an effect not observed between the two CON groups. In the swim task, the PB animals, regardless of stress assignment, exhibited increased floating, suggesting a conserved response in a challenging context. Focusing on the endocrine measures, higher dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA)-to-corticosterone fecal metabolite ratios, a correlate of emotional resilience, were observed in PB animals. Further, PB animals exhibited reduced microglia immunoreactivity in the basolateral amygdala, possibly indicating a neuroprotective effect of PB supplements in this rodent model. These results provide evidence that PB supplementation interacts with stress exposure to influence adaptive responses associated with endocrine, neural, and behavioral indices of anxiety.Nick R. NataleMolly KentNathan FoxDylan VavraKelly LambertElsevierarticleProbioticsPsychobioticsCorticosteroneDHEAChronic stressNeurosciences. Biological psychiatry. NeuropsychiatryRC321-571ENIBRO Neuroscience Reports, Vol 11, Iss , Pp 207-215 (2021)
institution DOAJ
collection DOAJ
language EN
topic Probiotics
Psychobiotics
Corticosterone
DHEA
Chronic stress
Neurosciences. Biological psychiatry. Neuropsychiatry
RC321-571
spellingShingle Probiotics
Psychobiotics
Corticosterone
DHEA
Chronic stress
Neurosciences. Biological psychiatry. Neuropsychiatry
RC321-571
Nick R. Natale
Molly Kent
Nathan Fox
Dylan Vavra
Kelly Lambert
Neurobiological effects of a probiotic-supplemented diet in chronically stressed male Long-Evans rats: Evidence of enhanced resilience
description Probiotics that regulate the microbiome-gut-brain axis and provide mental health benefits to the host are referred to as psychobiotics. Preclinical studies have demonstrated psychobiotic effects on early life stress-induced anxiety- and depression-related behavior in rodents; however, the specific mechanisms remain ill-defined. In the current study, we investigated the effects of probiotic supplementation on neurobiological responses to chronic stress in adult male Long-Evans rats. Twenty-four rats were randomly assigned to probiotic (PB) or vehicle control (VEH) groups, then to either chronic unpredictable stress (CUS) or no-stress control (CON) conditions within each group (n = 6/subgroup). We hypothesized that PB supplementation would reduce markers of anxiety and enhance emotional resilience, especially in the CUS animals. In the cognitive uncertainty task, a nonsignificant trend was observed indicating that the PB-supplemented animals spent more time oriented toward the food reward than VEH animals. In the open-field task, CUS-PB animals spent more time in the center of the arena than CUS-VEH animals, an effect not observed between the two CON groups. In the swim task, the PB animals, regardless of stress assignment, exhibited increased floating, suggesting a conserved response in a challenging context. Focusing on the endocrine measures, higher dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA)-to-corticosterone fecal metabolite ratios, a correlate of emotional resilience, were observed in PB animals. Further, PB animals exhibited reduced microglia immunoreactivity in the basolateral amygdala, possibly indicating a neuroprotective effect of PB supplements in this rodent model. These results provide evidence that PB supplementation interacts with stress exposure to influence adaptive responses associated with endocrine, neural, and behavioral indices of anxiety.
format article
author Nick R. Natale
Molly Kent
Nathan Fox
Dylan Vavra
Kelly Lambert
author_facet Nick R. Natale
Molly Kent
Nathan Fox
Dylan Vavra
Kelly Lambert
author_sort Nick R. Natale
title Neurobiological effects of a probiotic-supplemented diet in chronically stressed male Long-Evans rats: Evidence of enhanced resilience
title_short Neurobiological effects of a probiotic-supplemented diet in chronically stressed male Long-Evans rats: Evidence of enhanced resilience
title_full Neurobiological effects of a probiotic-supplemented diet in chronically stressed male Long-Evans rats: Evidence of enhanced resilience
title_fullStr Neurobiological effects of a probiotic-supplemented diet in chronically stressed male Long-Evans rats: Evidence of enhanced resilience
title_full_unstemmed Neurobiological effects of a probiotic-supplemented diet in chronically stressed male Long-Evans rats: Evidence of enhanced resilience
title_sort neurobiological effects of a probiotic-supplemented diet in chronically stressed male long-evans rats: evidence of enhanced resilience
publisher Elsevier
publishDate 2021
url https://doaj.org/article/9d87f07cce9847a39392c81e7f7b9ad7
work_keys_str_mv AT nickrnatale neurobiologicaleffectsofaprobioticsupplementeddietinchronicallystressedmalelongevansratsevidenceofenhancedresilience
AT mollykent neurobiologicaleffectsofaprobioticsupplementeddietinchronicallystressedmalelongevansratsevidenceofenhancedresilience
AT nathanfox neurobiologicaleffectsofaprobioticsupplementeddietinchronicallystressedmalelongevansratsevidenceofenhancedresilience
AT dylanvavra neurobiologicaleffectsofaprobioticsupplementeddietinchronicallystressedmalelongevansratsevidenceofenhancedresilience
AT kellylambert neurobiologicaleffectsofaprobioticsupplementeddietinchronicallystressedmalelongevansratsevidenceofenhancedresilience
_version_ 1718419498098229248