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Lactobacillus from the Altered Schaedler Flora maintain IFNγ homeostasis to promote behavioral stress resilience
Trillions of viruses, bacteria, and fungi live in the digestive system and make up the gut microbiome. These communities are vulnerable to environmental stressors like disease or dietary modifications. Disruption of the Lactobaccillacea population, which produces lactic acid, has been linked to stress exposure and mood problems. In reality, these effects can be mitigated, and anxiety– and depression-like behavior can be avoided with an oral supplement containing many Lactobacillus species. In their study, Merchak et al. (2024) eliminated the two natural species of Lactobaccillacea (L. murinis, L. intestinalis) using gnotobiotic mice colonized with the Altered Schaedler Flora species. The authors discovered that the Lactobacillus species resist environmental stresses, not the disturbed microbial communities. Furthermore, the authors note that these behavioral and circuit-level responses are mediated by Lactobaccillacea, which maintain homeostatic IFNγ levels. The authors comment that their work furthered the understanding of how probiotics affect behavior and helped reveal additional tools to investigate possible treatments for mood disorders through the Altered Schaedler Flora. [NPID: Microbiome, lactobacillus, Altered Schaedler Flora, probiotics, mood disorders]
Year: 2023
