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Buffington and Reber

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Buffington et al. explore a mechanism by which maternal obesity can induce neuronal and subsequent behavioral disorders. Using a model of high-fat diet (MHFD)-induced obesity, the authors showcase the strong connection between the brain and the gut, and its impact on behavior. The findings are provocative; by exposing these offspring to the microbiome of control offspring, there was evidence of a rescued observed behavioral phenotype. Furthermore, a phylogenetic profiling of the gut microbiome revealed a decrease in L. reuteri within MHFD offspring, and introduction of live L. reuteri into the drinking water shows successful rescue of the behavioral issues in the MHFD offspring. L. reuteri-induced expression of oxytocin within the paraventricular nuclei of the hypothalamus provides a potential mechanistic explanation for the behavioral changes. I thought this paper provided robust support for the hypothesized interaction between the gut biome and the developing CNS, with tremendous potential for clinical applications. I especially enjoyed the idea that from the human perspective, the gut microbiota transmitted to our children can influence their social behavior and could affect the frequency of autism spectrum disorder (!!), and how these results raise possibilities in terms of probiotic treatments for relief of behavioral abnormalities associated with neurodevelopmental disorders. My only concern regarding this research is of the population that it affects; I did further research and found out that the prevalence of maternal obesity is highest among deprived and minority ethnic populations. Of course more research is necessary to carry out research in human subjects, but I hope that future experiments would yield a widely accessible treatment to meet the needs of these populations.

Reber et al. found that immunization with a heat-killed preparation of M. vaccae promotes stress resilience in animal models, including a number of negative outcomes of chronic psychosocial stress and stress-induced exaggeration of anxiety in mice. Again, super provocative study with immense clinical applications once further research is conducted. This got me thinking about more applications of heat-killed preparations of other immunoregulatory bacteria beyond M. vaccae. Furthermore, I was surprised (and disappointed) to find that the study did not utilize female rats, which are more prone to stress. I’m curious to see what a study with female rats (including pregnant females) would look like.

Both studies also got me thinking about OpenBiome, an organization that I heard about recently in Boston and its work with making Fecal Microbiota Transplantation (FMT) more widely available to patients with C. difficile infections. Would it be possible to have a similar transplantation for people with IBS/IBD with possible behavioral rescue implications? I’m excited to see what sort of direction this research continues to move in for sure.

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