Cited by 18Gut microbiota and healthStress Responses and CortisolGastrointestinal motility and disorders

Relationship between psychosocial stress-induced prefrontal cortex activity and gut microbiota in healthy participants-a functional near-infrared spectroscopy study

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Yamaoka, Kao, Uotsu, Nobuo, Hoshino, Eiichi·2022·Neurobiology of Stress

Abstract

Brain and gut microbes communicate in a bidirectional manner with each affecting a person's response to psychosocial stress. Although human studies demonstrated that the intake of probiotics can alter stress-related behavior in both patients and healthy participants, the association between stress-related brain functions and the gut microbiota has mostly been investigated in patients with depression. However, the response to psychosocial stress differs, even among healthy individuals, and elucidating the natural state of the gut microbiota would broaden the understanding of responses to psychosocial stress. We investigated the relationship between psychosocial stress response in the prefrontal cortex and the abundance of gut microbes in healthy male participants. The participants were exposed to psychosocial stress during a task while brain activation data were recorded using functional near-infrared spectroscopy. The heart rate and subjective stress were recorded, and fecal samples were collected. The stressful condition was accompanied by high subjective stress, high heart rate, and higher prefrontal activation in the right pre-motor cortex/supplementary motor area, right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, right frontal pole, and right inferior prefrontal gyrus. The psychosocial stress response in the prefrontal cortex was also associated with changes in the gut microbiota abundance. The abundance of Alistipes , Clostridium IV , Clostridium XI , Faecalibacterium , and Blautia in healthy participants who had high psychosocial stress resembled that noted in patients with depression. These results suggest that the gut microbiota differs, among healthy participants, depending on the psychosocial stress response. We believe that this study is the first to report a direct relationship between brain function and the gut microbiota in healthy participants, and our findings would shed a new light on this field in the near future.

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  • Healthy participants with higher stress responses have an increased abundance of microbes found to be associated with depression.

    “They found that the prefrontal cortex stress response correlated with the relative abundance of GM microbes, and that healthy participants with higher stress responses had an increased abundance of microbes found to be associated with depression.”
  • In healthy subjects, prefrontal cortex stress response correlates with the relative abundance of GM microbes.

    “They found that the prefrontal cortex stress response correlated with the relative abundance of GM microbes, and that healthy participants with higher stress responses had an increased abundance of microbes found to be associated with depression.”

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Authors
Yamaoka, K., Uotsu, N., & Hoshino, E.
Affiliations
  • Fancl Corporation (Japan) (JP)
  • Keio University Global Research Institute (JP)
Corresponding author
Yamaoka, Kao
Venue
Neurobiology of Stress
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2022-09
Volume
20
Pages
100479
ISSN
2352-2895 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W4291124198
Cited by
18
References
79
Citations by year
2026: 4 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 3
FWCI
1.14
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Neurobiology of Stress (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Gut microbiota and health
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Behavioral Neuroscience › Stress Responses and Cortisol
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Gastroenterology › Gastrointestinal motility and disorders
Keywords
psychosocial stress, gut microbiota, prefrontal cortex, gut-brain axis, stress response, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, supplementary motor area, heart rate, subjective stress, Alistipes, Clostridium, Faecalibacterium, Blautia, healthy individuals

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