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Cited by 83Probiotics and Fermented FoodsStress Responses and CortisolInfant Health and Development

The effects of a probiotic formulation (Lactobacillus rhamnosus and L. helveticus) on developmental trajectories of emotional learning in stressed infant rats

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Cowan, C S M, Callaghan, B L, Richardson, R·2016·Translational Psychiatry
DOI 10.1038/tp.2016.94PMC PMC5545650
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Abstract

Recently, scientific interest in the brain–gut axis has grown dramatically, particularly with respect to the link between gastrointestinal and psychiatric dysfunction. However, the role of gut function in early emotional dysregulation is yet to be examined, despite the prevalence and treatment resistance of early-onset psychiatric disorders. The present studies utilized a developmental rodent model of early-life stress (ELS) to explore this gap. Rats were exposed to maternal separation (MS) on postnatal days 2–14. Throughout MS, dams received either vehicle or a probiotic formulation (previously shown to reduce gastrointestinal dysfunction) in their drinking water. Replicating past research, untreated MS infants exhibited an adult-like profile of long-lasting fear memories and fear relapse following extinction. In contrast, probiotic-exposed MS infants exhibited age-appropriate infantile amnesia and resistance to relapse. These effects were not mediated by changes in pups’ or dams’ anxiety at the time of training, nor by maternal responsiveness. Overall, probiotics acted as an effective and non-invasive treatment to restore normal developmental trajectories of emotion-related behaviors in infant rats exposed to ELS. These results provide promising initial evidence for this novel approach to reduce the risk of mental health problems in vulnerable individuals. Future studies are needed to test this treatment in humans exposed to ELS and to elucidate mechanisms for the observed behavioral changes.

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  • Administration of a probiotic formulation containing L. rhamnosus R0011 and L. helveticus R0052 prevents the effects of early-life stress on fear behavior and its supporting neural network during development.

    “Finally, administration of a probiotic formulation containing L. rhamnosus R0011 and L. helveticus R0052 has been shown to prevent the effects of early-life stress on fear behavior and its supporting neural network during development (Callaghan et al., 2016;Cowan et al., 2016).”

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

    The Probiotic treatment section identifies the formulation as L. rhamnosus R0011 and L. helveticus R0052. The Results (Experiment 2) and Discussion report that it reversed maternal-separation effects on learned fear in infant rats. The paper does not show that it prevented effects on a supporting neural network; the Discussion says the mechanisms of the behavioral changes require future investigation. (LLM, conf=0.90)

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Authors
Cowan, C. S. M., Callaghan, B. L., & Richardson, R.
Affiliations
  • UNSW Sydney (AU)
  • The University of Melbourne (AU)
Corresponding author
Cowan, C S M
ORCID
Venue
Translational Psychiatry
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published
2016-05-31
Volume
6
Issue
5
Pages
e823-e823
ISSN
2158-3188 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1038/tp.2016.94
PMC
PMC5545650
OpenAlex
W2416592559
Cited by
83
References
15
Citations by year
2026: 3 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 9 · 2020: 12 · 2019: 16 · 2018: 15 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 3
FWCI
13.90
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Translational Psychiatry (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Cork Open Research Archive (University College Cork, Ireland) (acceptedVersion, cc-by)
  • UNSWorks (University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
  • Minerva Access (University of Melbourne) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • UNSWorks (UNSW Sydney) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
  • Arrow@dit (Dublin Institute of Technology) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
Funders
  • University of New South Wales
  • Petre Foundation
  • Medical Research Council
  • Australian Research Council (DP120104925)
  • National Health and Medical Research Council (APP1031688)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Food Science › Probiotics and Fermented Foods
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Behavioral Neuroscience › Stress Responses and Cortisol
  • Health Sciences › Health Professions › Pharmacy › Infant Health and Development
Keywords
probiotics, Lactobacillus rhamnosus, Lactobacillus helveticus, early life stress, maternal separation, emotional learning, fear memory, fear extinction, fear relapse, infantile amnesia, gut-brain axis, anxiety, infant rats, maternal responsiveness
MeSH terms
Emotional Adjustment, Animals, Animals, Newborn, Disease Models, Animal, Fear, Female, Male, Maternal Deprivation, Pregnancy, Mental Recall, Stress, Psychological, Rats, Sprague-Dawley, Probiotics, Rats, Lactobacillus helveticus, Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus

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