Microbiota and memory: A symbiotic therapy to counter cognitive decline?

Heyck & Ibarra (2019) discuss the significant connection between gut microbiota and brain function that has gained attention recently, highlighting the findings from one study that tested the effects of probiotic and prebiotic supplementation on the spatial and associative memory of middle-aged rats. Rats given both probiotic and prebiotic therapy exhibited significantly better spatial memory but not associative memory, compared with other groups. This greater performance in spatial memory tests was related with higher BDNF concentrations, lower levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines, and better electrophysiological readings in the hippocampus. These results therefore support that the rate of cognitive decline can be affected by probiotic- and prebiotic-induced alterations in microbiota. The data presented by this review can also be utilized to help tackle neurodegeneration and inflammation associated with aging and the posttraumatic impacts of ischemic stroke. [NPID: probiotics, gut-brain axis, gut microbiota, gut bacteria, microbiota, gut microbiome, prebiotics, spatial memory, pro-inflammatory cytokines, neurodegeneration, aging, stroke, inflammation]

Year: 2019

Reference: Heyck, M., & Ibarra, A. (2019). Microbiota and memory: A symbiotic therapy to counter cognitive decline?. Brain circulation, 5(3), 124–129. https://doi.org/10.4103/bc.bc_34_19

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