Cited by 110Fatty Acid Research and HealthStress Responses and CortisolTryptophan and brain disorders

Preventing adolescent stress-induced cognitive and microbiome changes by diet

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Provensi, Gustavo, Schmidt, Scheila Daiane, Boehme, Marcus, Bastiaanssen, Thomaz F. S., Rani, Barbara, Costa, Alessia, Busca, Kizkitza, Fouhy, Fiona +6 more·2019·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Abstract

Psychological stress during adolescence may cause enduring cognitive deficits and anxiety in both humans and animals, accompanied by rearrangement of numerous brain structures and functions. A healthy diet is essential for proper brain development and maintenance of optimal cognitive functions during adulthood. Furthermore, nutritional components profoundly affect the intestinal community of microbes that may affect gut-brain communication. We adopted a relatively mild stress protocol, social instability stress, which when repeatedly administered to juvenile rats modifies cognitive behaviors and plasticity markers in the brain. We then tested the preventive effect of a prolonged diet enriched with the ω-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids eicosapentaenoic acid, docosahexaenoic acid, and docosapentaenoic acid and vitamin A. Our findings highlight the beneficial effects of this enriched diet on cognitive memory impairment induced by social instability stress, as stressed rats fed the enriched diet exhibited performance undistinguishable from that of nonstressed rats on both emotional and reference memory tests. Furthermore, in stressed rats, the decline in brain-derived neurotrophic factor expression in the hippocampus and shifts in the microbiota composition were normalized by the enriched diet. The detrimental behavioral and neurochemical effects of adolescent stress, as well as the protective effect of the enriched diet, were maintained throughout adulthood, long after the exposure to the stressful environment was terminated. Taken together, our results strongly suggest a beneficial role of nutritional components in ameliorating stress-related behaviors and associated neurochemical and microbiota changes, opening possible new venues in the field of nutritional neuropsychopharmacology.

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  • In an animal model, omega-3 fatty acid and vitamin A supplementation reversed microbial disturbance and impairments in novel object recognition, as well as alterations in hippocampal and prefrontal cortex BDNF levels elicited by social instability stress.

    “one study demonstrated that ω-3 fatty acid and vitamin A supplementation reversed microbial disturbance and impairments in novel object recognition, as well as alterations in hippocampal and prefrontal cortex BDNF levels elicited by social instability stress in an animal model (293).”

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Authors
Provensi, G., Schmidt, S. D., Boehme, M., Bastiaanssen, T. F. S., Rani, B., Costa, A., Busca, K., Fouhy, F., Strain, C., Stanton, C., Blandina, P., Izquierdo, I., Cryan, J. F., & Passani, M. B.
Affiliations
  • University of Florence (IT)
  • Instituto do Cérebro (BR)
  • University College Cork (IE)
  • Teagasc - The Irish Agriculture and Food Development Authority (IE)
  • Memory Center, Brain Institute of Rio Grande do Sul, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre 90619-900, Brazil;
Venue
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Published
2019-04-22
Volume
116
Issue
19
Pages
9644-9651
ISSN
  • 0027-8424 (ISSN-L)
  • 1091-6490
OpenAlex
W2942148775
Cited by
110
References
77
Citations by year
2026: 3 · 2025: 15 · 2024: 12 · 2023: 17 · 2022: 18 · 2021: 14 · 2020: 21 · 2019: 10
FWCI
11.99
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Florence Research (University of Florence) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
Funders
  • Science Foundation Ireland (HDHL/3270, 15/JP-HDHL/3270)
  • Teagasc
  • Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior
  • Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (Code 001, 2014‐2, 201511/2014‐2)
  • Università degli Studi di Firenze
  • Ministero degli Affari Esteri e della Cooperazione Internazionale
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Nursing › Nutrition and Dietetics › Fatty Acid Research and Health
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Behavioral Neuroscience › Stress Responses and Cortisol
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Biological Psychiatry › Tryptophan and brain disorders
Keywords
adolescent stress, omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, eicosapentaenoic acid, docosahexaenoic acid, docosapentaenoic acid, vitamin A, dietary enrichment, emotional memory, reference memory, brain-derived neurotrophic factor, hippocampus, gut microbiota, gut-brain axis, anxiety, neuroplasticity
MeSH terms
Gastrointestinal Microbiome, Animals, Anxiety, Behavior, Animal, Cognition, Diet, Hippocampus, Male, Stress, Psychological, Fatty Acids, Omega-3, Rats, Wistar, Rats

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