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Cited by 135Gut microbiota and healthFunctional Brain Connectivity StudiesGastrointestinal motility and disorders

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Gut microbiome and brain functional connectivity in infants-a preliminary study focusing on the amygdala

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Gao, Wei, Salzwedel, Andrew P., Carlson, Alexander L., Xia, Kai, Azcarate-Peril, M. Andrea, Styner, Martin A., Thompson, Amanda L., Geng, Xiujuan, Goldman, Barbara D., Gilmore, John H., Knickmeyer, Rebecca C.·2019·Psychopharmacology
DOI 10.1007/s00213-018-5161-8PMC PMC6599471
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Abstract

Recently, there has been a surge of interest in the possibility that microbial communities inhabiting the human gut could affect cognitive development and increase risk for mental illness via the "microbiome-gut-brain axis." Infancy likely represents a critical period for the establishment of these relationships, as it is the most dynamic stage of postnatal brain development and a key period in the maturation of the microbiome. Indeed, recent reports indicate that characteristics of the infant gut microbiome are associated with both temperament and cognitive performance. The neural circuits underlying these relationships have not yet been delineated. To address this gap, resting-state fMRI scans were acquired from 39 1-year-old human infants who had provided fecal samples for identification and relative quantification of bacterial taxa. Measures of alpha diversity were generated and tested for associations with measures of functional connectivity. Primary analyses focused on the amygdala as manipulation of the gut microbiota in animal models alters the structure and neurochemistry of this brain region. Secondary analyses explored functional connectivity of nine canonical resting-state functional networks. Alpha diversity was significantly associated with functional connectivity between the amygdala and thalamus and between the anterior cingulate cortex and anterior insula. These regions play an important role in processing/responding to threat. Alpha diversity was also associated with functional connectivity between the supplementary motor area (SMA, representing the sensorimotor network) and the inferior parietal lobule (IPL). Importantly, SMA-IPL connectivity also related to cognitive outcomes at 2 years of age, suggesting a potential pathway linking gut microbiome diversity and cognitive outcomes during infancy. These results provide exciting new insights into the gut-brain axis during early human development and should stimulate further studies into whether microbiome-associated changes in brain circuitry influence later risk for psychopathology.

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  • Correlations have been observed between childhood microbiota composition and behavioral temperament, functional brain activity/connectivity, and cognitive function.

    “Correlations have also been observed between childhood microbiota composition and behavioral temperament (Christian et al., 2015), functional activity/connectivity in the brain (Callaghan et al., 2019;Gao et al., 2019), and cognitive function (Carlson et al., 2018).”

    From The Microbiota-Gut-Brain Axis (2019) · cites this paper as Gao et al., 2019

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Metadata

Authors
Gao, W., Salzwedel, A. P., Carlson, A. L., Xia, K., Azcarate-Peril, M. A., Styner, M. A., Thompson, A. L., Geng, X., Goldman, B. D., Gilmore, J. H., & Knickmeyer, R. C.
Affiliations
  • Cedars-Sinai Medical Center (US)
  • University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (US)
  • Chinese University of Hong Kong (HK)
Corresponding author
  • Gao, Wei
  • Knickmeyer, Rebecca C.
ORCID
Venue
Psychopharmacology
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published
2019-01-02
Volume
236
Issue
5
Pages
1641-1651
ISSN
  • 0033-3158 (ISSN-L)
  • 1432-2072
DOI
10.1007/s00213-018-5161-8
PMC
PMC6599471
OpenAlex
W2908290777
Cited by
135
References
18
Citations by year
2026: 8 · 2025: 17 · 2024: 19 · 2023: 24 · 2022: 20 · 2021: 21 · 2020: 15 · 2019: 11
FWCI
4.98
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Psychopharmacology (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
  • Carolina Digital Repository (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) (submittedVersion)
  • UNC Libraries
Funders
National Institutes of Health (DA042988, DA043678, NS088975, DA043171, MH070890, HD053000, MH092335, MH104330)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Gut microbiota and health
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Functional Brain Connectivity Studies
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Gastroenterology › Gastrointestinal motility and disorders
Keywords
gut microbiota, microbiome-gut-brain axis, infant brain development, functional connectivity, amygdala, alpha diversity, resting-state networks, thalamus, anterior cingulate cortex, anterior insula, supplementary motor area, inferior parietal lobule, sensorimotor network, cognitive development, threat processing, psychopathology risk
MeSH terms
Gastrointestinal Microbiome, Amygdala, Brain, Brain Mapping, Child, Preschool, Cognition, Cross-Sectional Studies, Female, Humans, Infant, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Nerve Net, Temperament

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