Cited by 118Probiotics and Fermented FoodsGut microbiota and healthGastrointestinal motility and disorders

Probiotics-induced changes in gut microbial composition and its effects on cognitive performance after stress: exploratory analyses

Open access
Bloemendaal, Mirjam, Szopinska-Tokov, Joanna, Belzer, Clara, Boverhoff, David, Papalini, Silvia, Michels, Franziska, van Hemert, Saskia, Arias Vasquez, Alejandro +1 more·2021·Translational Psychiatry

Published version of a preprint

Abstract

Abstract Stress negatively affects cognitive performance. Probiotics remediate somatic and behavioral stress responses, hypothetically by acting on the gut microbiota. Here, we assessed gut microbial alterations after 28-days supplementation of multi-strain probiotics (EcologicBarrier consisting of Lactobacilli, Lactococci and Bifidobacteria in healthy, female subjects (probiotics group n=27, placebo group n=29). In an identical pre- and post-session, subjects performed a working memory task before and after an acute stress intervention. One-month supplementation of probiotics changed the gut microbial community (within probiotics group P weighted unifrac =0.008). This change was driven by a nominal increase in eight genera in the probiotics group relative to the placebo group: Butyricimonas, Parabacteroides, Alistipes, Christensenellaceae_R-7_group, Family_XIII_AD3011_group, Ruminococcaceae_UCG-003, Ruminococcaceae_UCG-005 and Ruminococcaceae_UCG-010 . Of these, the probiotics-induced change in genus Ruminococcaceae_UCG-003 was significantly associated with probiotics’ effect on stress-induced working memory changes (r spearman (27) = 0.565; pFDR = 0.014) in the probiotics group only and independent of potential confounders (i.e., age, BMI, and baseline dietary fibre intake). That is, subjects with a higher increase in Ruminococcaceae_UCG-003 abundance after probiotics were also more protected from negative effects of stress on working memory after probiotic supplementation. The bacterial taxa showing an increase in relative abundance in the probiotics group are plant fibre degrading bacteria and produce short-chain fatty acids that are known for their beneficial effect on gut and brain health, e.g. maintaining intestinal- and blood-brain-barrier integrity. This study shows that gut microbial alterations, modulated through probiotics use, are related to improved cognitive performance in acute stress circumstances.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1038/s41398-021-01404-9

Cites

74 of 74 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Mechanistic studies have linked the stress response, cognition, and microbiota-gut-brain axis, demonstrating a relative abundance of fibre-degrading bacteria that produce short-chain fatty acids, as well as changes in the serotonin and dopamine-norepinephrine pathways.

    “Mechanistic studies have further linked the stress response, cognition, and MGB axis, demonstrating a relative abundance of fibre-degrading bacteria that produce SCFAs, as well as changes in the serotonin and dopamine-norepinephrine pathways (474, 475).”

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

1 retracted

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Bloemendaal, M., Szopinska-Tokov, J., Belzer, C., Boverhoff, D., Papalini, S., Michels, F., van Hemert, S., Arias Vasquez, A., & Aarts, E.
Affiliations
  • Radboud University Medical Center (NL)
  • Wageningen University & Research (NL)
  • Radboud University Nijmegen (NL)
Corresponding author
Bloemendaal, Mirjam
Venue
Translational Psychiatry
Published
2021-05-20
Volume
11
Issue
1
Pages
300-300
ISSN
2158-3188 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W3163710097
Cited by
118
References
74
Citations by year
2026: 16 · 2025: 17 · 2024: 36 · 2023: 22 · 2022: 25 · 2021: 2
FWCI
12.83
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Translational Psychiatry (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • medRxiv (acceptedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Socio-Environmental Systems Modeling (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • Lirias (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
  • Radboud Repository (Radboud University) (submittedVersion)
  • Radboud Repository (Radboud University) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
Funders
  • EC | Horizon 2020 Framework Programme (728018, 643051)
  • Winclove Probiotics, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
  • Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (057-14-001, 016.135.023)
  • Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs under the TKI Life Science and Health, project LSHM15034
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Food Science › Probiotics and Fermented Foods
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Gut microbiota and health
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Gastroenterology › Gastrointestinal motility and disorders
Keywords
probiotics, gut microbiota, acute stress, working memory, cognitive performance, short-chain fatty acids, lactobacilli, Bifidobacterium, lactococci, stress-induced cognitive impairment, beta diversity, female subjects
MeSH terms
Gastrointestinal Microbiome, Bacteria, Cognition, Female, Humans, Stress, Psychological, Probiotics, Young Adult

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review