ABSTRACT BACKGROUND Treatment with the α-glucosidase inhibitor acarbose increases median lifespan by approximately 20% in male mice and 5% in females. This longevity extension differs from dietary restriction based on a number of features, including the relatively small effects on weight and the sex-specificity of the lifespan effect. By inhibiting host digestion, acarbose increases the […]

SUMMARY Horizontal transmission of the microbiota between different individuals is widely used to normalize the microbiota in laboratory mice. However, little is known about the dynamics of microbial communities and the level of microbiota transmission after cohousing. We extensively analyzed the fecal microbiota in Jackson and Taconic C57BL/6 mice to study horizontal transmission after weaning. […]

ABSTRACT As the global population ages, and rates of dementia rise, understanding lifestyle factors that play a role in the development and acceleration of cognitive decline is vital to creating therapies and recommendations to improve quality of later life. Obesity has been shown to increase risk for dementia. However, the specific mechanisms for obesity-induced cognitive […]

DISCUSSION The composition of the commensal gut microbiota changes with age, which is linked with an increase in age-associated morbidities such as frailty2,4 and intestinal disorders30, but the cause of this shift in the gut microbial composition is unknown. Here we sought to determine whether there is a causal link between age-dependent changes in the […]

ABSTRACT Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) manifests as alterations in complex human behaviors including social communication and stereotypies. In addition to genetic risks, the gut microbiome differs between typically developing (TD) and ASD individuals, though it remains unclear whether the microbiome contributes to symptoms. We transplanted gut microbiota from human donors with ASD or TD controls […]

ABSTRACT The incidence of urinary stone disease (USD) has increased four-fold in 50 years. Oxalate, which is degraded exclusively by gut bacteria, is an important constituent in 80% of urinary stones. We quantified the effects of antibiotics and a high fat/high sugar (HFHS) diet on the microbial metabolism of oxalate in the gut. High and […]

ABSTRACT BACKGROUND Oral gingival tissue, especially the junctional epithelium (JE), is constantly exposed to sub‐gingival plaque. A key component of gingival health is the regulation of the number of neutrophils that migrate into the gingival crevice to counteract its harmful effects. This report investigates the contribution of innate defense receptors, Toll‐like receptor 2 (TLR), TLR4 […]

ABSTRACT AIMS NOD2 and CD1d play a key role in innate immunity by recognizing conserved molecular patterns of pathogens. While NOD2−/− and CD1d−/− mice display structural and functional alterations in Paneth cells, animal studies have reported no impact of NOD2 or CD1d deficiency on experimental colitis. NOD2 mutations increase the susceptibility to inflammatory bowel diseases […]

ABSTRACT MHC molecules are essential for the adaptive immune response, and they are the most polymorphic genetic loci in vertebrates. Extreme genetic variation at these loci is paradoxical given their central importance to host health. Classic models of MHC gene evolution center on antagonistic host-pathogen interactions to promote gene diversification and allelic diversity in host […]

ABSTRACT The gut microbiome is composed of an enormous number of microorganisms, generally regarded as commensal bacteria. Resident gut bacteria are an important contributor to health and significant evidence suggests that the presence of healthy and diverse gut microbiota is important for normal cognitive and emotional processing. Here we measured the expression of monoamine neurotransmitter-related […]

ABSTRACT We demonstrated that an antibiotic cocktail (ABX)-perturbed gut microbiome is associated with reduced amyloid-β (Aβ) plaque pathology and astrogliosis in the male amyloid precursor protein (APP)SWE/presenilin 1 (PS1)ΔE9 transgenic model of Aβ amyloidosis. We now show that in an independent, aggressive APPSWE/PS1L166P (APPPS1-21) mouse model of Aβ amyloidosis, an ABX-perturbed gut microbiome is associated […]

ABSTRACT The diverse bacterial populations that comprise the commensal microbiome of the human intestine play a central role in health and disease. A method that sustains complex microbial communities in direct contact with living human intestinal cells and their overlying mucus layer in vitro would thus enable the investigation of host–microbiome interactions. Here, we show […]

ABSTRACT The gut commensal Bacteroides fragilis or its capsular polysaccharide A (PSA) can prevent various peripheral and CNS sterile inflammatory disorders. Fatal herpes simplex encephalitis (HSE) results from immune pathology caused by uncontrolled invasion of the brainstem by inflammatory monocytes and neutrophils. Here we assess the immunomodulatory potential of PSA in HSE by infecting PSA […]

ABSTRACT Gut microbiota play a key role in the regulation of obesity and associated metabolic disorders. To study the relationship between them, antibiotics have been widely used to generate pseudo-germ-free rodents as control models. However, it is not clear whether antibiotics impact an animal’s metabolic phenotype. Therefore, the effect of antibiotics-induced gut microbial perturbations on […]

ABSTRACT Dietary intervention during early life has a significant impact on colonization of the gut microbiota. In addition, some polysaccharides have the potential to selectively stimulate the growth and metabolic activity of intestinal bacteria associated with health and well-being. However, less is known about the effect of polysaccharides on the development of gut microbiota in […]

ABSTRACT Diabetic kidney disease is a major cause of renal failure that urgently necessitates a breakthrough in disease management. Here we show using untargeted metabolomics that levels of phenyl sulfate, a gut microbiota-derived metabolite, increase with the progression of diabetes in rats overexpressing human uremic toxin transporter SLCO4C1 in the kidney, and are decreased in […]

ABSTRACT Aims/hypothesis This study aimed to assess the ability of human gut microbiota to delay the onset of type 1 diabetes when transferred into germ-free NOD mice. Methods Two children with rapid and three children with slow beta cell function loss (as assessed by C-peptide AUC change in the mixed-meal tolerance tests performed 1 and […]

ABSTRACT Early-life stress has pervasive, typically detrimental, effects on physical and mental health across the lifespan. In rats, maternal-separation stress results in premature expression of an adult-like profile of fear regulation that predisposes stressed rats to persistent fear, one of the hallmarks of clinical anxiety. Probiotic treatment attenuates the effects of maternal separation on fear […]

ABSTRACT Several studies have reported that gut and lung microbiomes are involved in the process of asthma pathogenesis. However, it remains unclear how perinatal or early-life antibiotic intervention affect adult allergic airway inflammation. We assigned C57BL/6 mice randomly to four experimental groups: normal saline control (NS), ovalbumin (OVA), vancomycin pretreated NS (VAN-NS), and vancomycin pretreated […]

ABSTRACT Accumulating evidence demonstrates that the gut microbiota affects brain function and behavior, including depressive behavior. Antidepressants are the main drugs used for treatment of depression. We hypothesized that antidepressant treatment could modify gut microbiota which can partially mediate their antidepressant effects. Mice were chronically treated with one of five antidepressants (fluoxetine, escitalopram, venlafaxine, duloxetine […]

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