Cited by 76Gut microbiota and healthBirth, Development, and HealthTryptophan and brain disorders

Maternal obese-type gut microbiota differentially impact cognition, anxiety and compulsive behavior in male and female offspring in mice

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Bruce-Keller, Annadora J., Fernandez-Kim, Sun-Ok, Townsend, R. Leigh, Kruger, Claudia, Carmouche, Richard, Newman, Susan, Salbaum, J. Michael, Berthoud, Hans-Rudolf·2017·PLoS ONE

Abstract

Maternal obesity is known to predispose offspring to metabolic and neurodevelopmental abnormalities. While the mechanisms underlying these phenomena are unclear, high fat diets dramatically alter intestinal microbiota, and gut microbiota can impact physiological function. To determine if maternal diet-induced gut dysbiosis can disrupt offspring neurobehavioral function, we transplanted high fat diet- (HFD) or control low fat diet-associated (CD) gut microbiota to conventionally-housed female mice. Recipient mice were then bred and the behavioral phenotype of male and female offspring was tracked. While maternal behavior was unaffected, neonatal offspring from HFD dams vocalized less upon maternal separation than pups from CD dams. Furthermore, weaned male offspring from HFD dams had significant and selective disruptions in exploratory, cognitive, and stereotypical/compulsive behavior compared to male offspring from CD dams; while female offspring from HFD dams had increases in body weight and adiposity. 16S metagenomic analyses confirmed establishment of divergent microbiota in CD and HFD dams, with alterations in diversity and taxonomic distribution throughout pregnancy and lactation. Likewise, significant alterations in gut microbial diversity and distribution were noted in offspring from HFD dams compared to CD dams, and in males compared to females. Regression analyses of behavioral performance against differentially represented taxa suggest that decreased representation of specific members of the Firmicutes phylum predict behavioral decline in male offspring. Collectively, these data establish that high fat diet-induced maternal dysbiosis is sufficient to disrupt behavioral function in murine offspring in a sex-specific manner. Thus these data reinforce the essential link between maternal diet and neurologic programming in offspring and suggest that intestinal dysbiosis could link unhealthy modern diets to the increased prevalence of neurodevelopmental and childhood disorders.

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  • Another study showed that HFD-exposed offspring expressed less vocalizations during maternal separation experiments than control diet offspring.

    “Another study showed similar results; HFD-exposed offspring expressed less vocalizations during maternal separation experiments, a measure of early life stress in the offspring, than control diet offspring.”

    From Gastrointestinal Issues and Autism Spectrum Disorder (2020) · cites this paper as [61]

  • Members of the Firmicutes phyla were implicated in the gut microbiome dysbiosis and behavioral correlates.

    “In these experiments, members of the Firmicutes phyla were implicated in the gut microbiome dysbiosis and behavioral correlates 61.”

    From Gastrointestinal Issues and Autism Spectrum Disorder (2020) · cites this paper as [61]

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Authors
Bruce-Keller, A. J., Fernandez-Kim, S.-O., Townsend, R. L., Kruger, C., Carmouche, R., Newman, S., Salbaum, J. M., & Berthoud, H.-R.
Affiliations
Pennington Biomedical Research Center (US)
Venue
PLoS ONE
Published
2017-04-25
Volume
12
Issue
4
Pages
e0175577
ISSN
1932-6203 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2610086359
Cited by
76
References
91
Citations by year
2026: 3 · 2025: 11 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 12 · 2021: 10 · 2020: 11 · 2019: 8 · 2018: 8 · 2017: 2
FWCI
3.24
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • PLoS ONE (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
  • Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
Funders
  • Louisiana Clinical and Translational Science Center
  • National Institutes of Health (NIH 2P30DK072476, 1U54-GM-104940, which funds the Louisiana Clinical, DK072476, 3P30-GM118430)
  • National Institute of General Medical Sciences (P30GM118430, U54GM104940)
  • National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (R01DK047348, P30DK072476)
  • National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (P50AT002776)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Gut microbiota and health
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health › Birth, Development, and Health
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Biological Psychiatry › Tryptophan and brain disorders
Keywords
maternal obesity, gut microbiota, high-fat diet, gut dysbiosis, offspring neurobehavior, sex differences, anxiety, compulsive behavior, cognitive function, neonatal vocalizations, maternal separation, adiposity, Firmicutes, pregnancy and lactation, microbiota transplantation
MeSH terms
Gastrointestinal Microbiome, Animals, Animal Communication, Animals, Newborn, Anxiety, Cognition, Compulsive Behavior, Female, Male, Mice, Inbred C57BL, Obesity, Pregnancy, Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects, Maternal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena, Adiposity

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