UCLA researchers in the Department of Integrative Biology & Physiology have discovered select bacterial factors that can be targeted to promote hippocampal functions and cognitive behaviors.
BACKGROUND:
Cognitive impairment, characterized by deficient attention, causal reasoning, and learning and memory, is a pressing public health concern, afflicting 16 million Americans and increasing globally. The gut microbiome mediates environmental contributions to behavioral abnormality, such as impaired communication in response to maternal immune activation and anxiety-related behavior in response to stress. Despite increasing evidence that the microbiota modulates cognitive behavior in animals, little is known regarding particular species and precise molecular and neurophysiological mechanisms that underlie gut microbiome learning and memory modulation. Moreover, whether changes in the microbiome contribute to environmental challenges on cognitive impairment remains unknown. There is a need for increased investigation into the effect of gut microbiome in cognitive function and great potential for microbiome-based treatments for cognitive impairment.
INNOVATION:
Dr. Hsiao and coworkers in the Department of Integrative Biology & Physiology have discovered select bacterial factors targets for modulating hippocampal function and cognitive behaviors, such as learning and memory. The researchers modeled known risk factors for cognitive impairment—hypoxic stress and ketogenic diet—in mice. They discovered that select microbiome is necessary and sufficient for mediating the effects of hypoxic stress and diet on cognitive impairment in mice. These bacteria or their bacterial factors can be targeted to promote hippocampal function and cognitive behaviors.
POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS:
• Promote hippocampal function and cognitive behaviors
ADVANTAGES:
• Novel mechanisms underlying microbiota-gut-brain signaling
• Selective targeting of key bacteria
• Specific to promoting hippocampal function
DEVELOPMENT-TO-DATE:
The study has been validated in a mouse model.