Oral treatment with Lactobacillus rhamnosus attenuates behavioural deficits and immune changes in chronic social stress
Open accessAbstract
BACKGROUND: Stress-related disorders involve systemic alterations, including disruption of the intestinal microbial community. Given the putative connections between the microbiota, immunity, neural function, and behaviour, we investigated the potential for microbe-induced gut-to-brain signalling to modulate the impact of stress on host behaviour and immunoregulation. METHODS: Male C57BL/6 mice treated orally over 28 days with either Lactobacillus rhamnosus (JB-1) ™ or vehicle were subjected to chronic social defeat and assessed for alterations in behaviour and immune cell phenotype. 16S rRNA sequencing and mass spectrometry were employed to analyse the faecal microbial community and metabolite profile. RESULTS: Treatment with JB-1 decreased stress-induced anxiety-like behaviour and prevented deficits in social interaction with conspecifics. However, JB-1 did not alter development of aggressor avoidance following social defeat. Microbial treatment attenuated stress-related activation of dendritic cells while increasing IL-10+ regulatory T cells. Furthermore, JB-1 modulated the effect of stress on faecal metabolites with neuroactive and immunomodulatory properties. Exposure to social defeat altered faecal microbial community composition and reduced species richness and diversity, none of which was prevented by JB-1. Stress-related microbiota disruptions persisted in vehicle-treated mice for 3 weeks following stressor cessation. CONCLUSIONS: These data demonstrate that despite the complexity of the gut microbiota, exposure to a single microbial strain can protect against certain stress-induced behaviours and systemic immune alterations without preventing dysbiosis. This work supports microbe-based interventions for stress-related disorders.
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- Authors
- Bharwani, A., Mian, M. F., Surette, M. G., Bienenstock, J., & Forsythe, P.
- Affiliations
- McMaster University (CA)
- St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton (CA)
- Corresponding author
- Forsythe, Paul
- Venue
- BMC Medicine
- Published
- 2017-01-11
- Volume
- 15
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 7-7
- ISSN
- 1741-7015 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC5225647
- OpenAlex
- W2571218087
- Cited by
- 236
- References
- 19
- Citations by year
- 2026: 11 · 2025: 22 · 2024: 24 · 2023: 24 · 2022: 30 · 2021: 26 · 2020: 27 · 2019: 30 · 2018: 30 · 2017: 12
- FWCI
- 30.47
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- BMC Medicine (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Office of Naval Research (N00014-14-1-0787)
- Canada Research Chairs
- 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
- chronic social defeat, chronic social stress, gut microbiota, anxiety-like behavior, social interaction deficits, dendritic cells, regulatory T cells, IL-10, fecal metabolites, neuroactive metabolites, stress-related disorders, dysbiosis, gut-brain axis, immunomodulation
- MeSH terms
- Gastrointestinal Microbiome, Animals, Anxiety, Behavior, Animal, Brain, Male, Mice, Inbred C57BL, RNA, Ribosomal, 16S, Stress, Psychological, Interleukin-10, Probiotics, Mice, Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus
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