1. Infant gut microbiota contributes to cognitive performance in mice
- Author
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Cerdó, T., Ruiz-Rodríguez, A., Acuña, I., Torres-Espínola, F.J., Menchén-Márquez, S., Gámiz, F., Gallo, M., Jehmlich, Nico, Haange, Sven Bastiaan, von Bergen, Martin, Campoy, C., Suárez, A., Cerdó, T., Ruiz-Rodríguez, A., Acuña, I., Torres-Espínola, F.J., Menchén-Márquez, S., Gámiz, F., Gallo, M., Jehmlich, Nico, Haange, Sven Bastiaan, von Bergen, Martin, Campoy, C., and Suárez, A.
- Abstract
Gut microbiota has been linked to infant neurodevelopment. Here, an association between infant composite cognition and gut microbiota composition is established as soon as 6 months. Higher diversity and evenness characterize microbial communities of infants with composite cognition above (Inf-aboveCC) versus below (Inf-belowCC) median values. Metaproteomic and metabolomic analyses establish an association between microbial histidine ammonia lyase and infant histidine metabolome with cognition. Fecal transplantation from Inf-aboveCC versus Inf-belowCC donors into germ-free mice shows that memory, assessed by a novel object recognition test, is a transmissible trait. Furthermore, Inf-aboveCC mice are enriched in species belonging to Phocaeicola, as well as Bacteroides and Bifidobacterium, previously linked to cognition. Finally, Inf-aboveCC mice show lower fecal histidine and urocanate:histidine and urocanate:glutamate ratios in the perirhinal cortex compared to Inf-belowCC mice. Overall, these findings reveal a causative role of gut microbiota on infant cognition, pointing at the modulation of histidine metabolite levels as a potential underlying mechanism.  
- Published
- 2023