Cited by 513Probiotics and Fermented FoodsGut microbiota and healthStress Responses and Cortisol

Bifidobacterium longum 1714 as a translational psychobiotic: modulation of stress, electrophysiology and neurocognition in healthy volunteers

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Allen, A P, Hutch, W, Borre, Y E, Kennedy, P J, Temko, A, Boylan, G, Murphy, E, Cryan, J F +2 more·2016·Translational Psychiatry

Abstract

The emerging concept of psychobiotics-live microorganisms with a potential mental health benefit-represents a novel approach for the management of stress-related conditions. The majority of studies have focused on animal models. Recent preclinical studies have identified the B. longum 1714 strain as a putative psychobiotic with an impact on stress-related behaviors, physiology and cognitive performance. Whether such preclinical effects could be translated to healthy human volunteers remains unknown. We tested whether psychobiotic consumption could affect the stress response, cognition and brain activity patterns. In a within-participants design, healthy volunteers (N=22) completed cognitive assessments, resting electroencephalography and were exposed to a socially evaluated cold pressor test at baseline, post-placebo and post-psychobiotic. Increases in cortisol output and subjective anxiety in response to the socially evaluated cold pressor test were attenuated. Furthermore, daily reported stress was reduced by psychobiotic consumption. We also observed subtle improvements in hippocampus-dependent visuospatial memory performance, as well as enhanced frontal midline electroencephalographic mobility following psychobiotic consumption. These subtle but clear benefits are in line with the predicted impact from preclinical screening platforms. Our results indicate that consumption of B. longum 1714 is associated with reduced stress and improved memory. Further studies are warranted to evaluate the benefits of this putative psychobiotic in relevant stress-related conditions and to unravel the mechanisms underlying such effects.

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  • Certain bacterial strains or cocktails of multiple bacteria have demonstrated efficacy in improving behavioral symptoms of various disorders from depression and anxiety to autism.

    “certain bacterial strains or cocktails of multiple bacteria have demonstrated efficacy in improving behavioral symptoms of various disorders from depression and anxiety to autism (see also Section VIII) (Allen et al., 2016;Bravo et al., 2011;Buffington et al., 2016;Hsiao et al., 2013;Kang et al., 2017;Savignac et al., 2014).”

    From The Microbiota-Gut-Brain Axis (2019) · cites this paper as Allen et al., 2016

    The Introduction (page unavailable) reports preclinical reductions in anxiety-like and depressive-like behavior and effects of multistrain probiotics on psychological measures in healthy volunteers. The Discussion (page unavailable) reports reduced stress responses with B. longum 1714 in healthy adults, but says its benefits in depression and anxiety require further study. The paper therefore does not establish efficacy for behavioral symptoms of depression, anxiety, or autism as disorders. (LLM, conf=0.88)

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  • Psychobiotic treatment has met with mixed results in healthy human subjects, with strain-specific positive results and a failure to translate.

    “has met with somewhat mixed results in healthy human subjects with strain-specific positive results (Allen et al., 2016;Papalini et al., 2018) and a failure to translate (Kelly et al., 2017).”

    From Gut reactions: Breaking down xenobiotic–microbiome interactions (2019) · cites this paper as Allen et al., 2016

  • Healthy individuals fed Bifidobacterium longum had attenuated levels of cortisol and reduced subjective anxiety in response to socially evaluated cold stress pressor test.

    “Allen et al. [52] found that healthy individuals fed Bifidobacterium longum had attenuated levels of cortisol and reduced subjective anxiety in response to the socially evaluated cold stress pressor test.”
  • Several studies in healthy participants have demonstrated reduced stress-induced cortisol levels and pro-inflammatory cytokines, along with improved cognitive test performance, perceptions of stress, anxiety, and mood.

    “Several studies in healthy participants have demonstrated reduced stress-induced cortisol levels and pro-inflammatory cytokines, along with improved cognitive test performance, perceptions of stress, anxiety, and mood (465–469).”
  • Most human intervention studies have focused on probiotic and prebiotic supplementation to manipulate the microbiota and investigate the effect on brain function and mental health.

    “Most human intervention studies have focused on probiotic and prebiotic supplementation to manipulate the microbiota and investigate the effect on brain function and mental health (327, 328).”

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Authors
Allen, A. P., Hutch, W., Borre, Y. E., Kennedy, P. J., Temko, A., Boylan, G., Murphy, E., Cryan, J. F., Dinan, T. G., & Clarke, G.
Affiliations
  • University College Cork (IE)
  • Alimentary Health (Ireland) (IE)
Corresponding author
Dinan, T G
Venue
Translational Psychiatry
Published
2016-11-01
Volume
6
Issue
11
Pages
e939-e939
ISSN
2158-3188 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2546849981
Cited by
513
References
55
Citations by year
2026: 41 · 2025: 57 · 2024: 57 · 2023: 48 · 2022: 73 · 2021: 65 · 2020: 60 · 2019: 48 · 2018: 36 · 2017: 24 · 2016: 3
FWCI
46.59
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Translational Psychiatry (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • NORMA (acceptedVersion)
  • TRAP@NCI (National College of Ireland) (acceptedVersion)
  • Arrow@dit (Dublin Institute of Technology) (acceptedVersion)
  • Cork Open Research Archive (University College Cork, Ireland) (acceptedVersion, cc-by)
  • Cork Open Research Archive (University College Cork, Ireland) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • Health Research Board (12/RC/2272, HRA_POR/2011/23, HRA_POR/2012/32)
  • Science Foundation Ireland (12/RC/2272, SFI/12/RC/, SFI/12/RC/2272, 12/RC/2273, HRA_POR/2011/23, 12/RC/, SFI/12/RC/2273.)
  • APC Microbiome Institute (SFI/12/RC/2273)
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
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Behavioral Neuroscience › Stress Responses and Cortisol
Keywords
psychobiotics, stress response, cortisol, anxiety, social evaluation, cold pressor test, visuospatial memory, hippocampus, neurocognitive function, healthy volunteers, probiotics
MeSH terms
Bifidobacterium longum, Adult, Arousal, Brain, Cognition Disorders, Cold Temperature, Electroencephalography, Female, Hippocampus, Humans, Hydrocortisone, Male, Neuropsychological Tests, Psychometrics, Mental Recall, Stress, Psychological, Case-Control Studies, Probiotics, Stress Disorders, Traumatic, Acute, Translational Research, Biomedical

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