Will science reach a cure for autism?

Will science reach a cure for autism?

A new study has found that mice carry a lot of bacteria in their guts, and this gut bacteria affects how the rodents' brains work.

According to what was published by "Live Science", quoting the "Nature" magazine, researchers from Taiwan and the United States sought to find out how gut bacteria affect the activity of neuronal networks responsible for the formation of social behavior specifically.

It is known that when a mouse encounters a mouse they have never met before, they will sniff each other's mustaches and climb on top of each other, just as the usual behavior of two dogs, in public parks for example, when they greet each other. But lab mice, which are germ-free and lack gut bacteria, have been shown to actively avoid social interactions with other mice and instead remain strangely aloof.

Social isolation

"Social isolation in germ-free mice is nothing new," said study lead author Wei Li Wu, an assistant professor at National Cheng Kung University in Taiwan and a visiting fellow at the Caltech. But he and his research team wanted to understand what drives this unstable behavior approach, and whether gut bacteria actually affect neurons in the mice's brain and reduce the rodents' desire to socialize.

Wu told Live Science that the first time he heard that bacteria can affect the behavior of animals, he thought, "It sounds amazing but it's a little unbelievable," so he and his colleagues began experimenting with mice. germ-free to directly observe their strange social behavior, and understand why such strange behavior appears.

The researchers compared the brain activity and behavior of normal mice with two other groups: mice that were raised in a sterile environment to be germ-free, and mice treated with a strong combination of antibiotics depleted gut bacteria. The experiments were based on the concept that once germ-free mice enter a non-sterile environment, they will begin to pick up a batch of bacteria immediately for one time only; Hence the antibiotic-treated mice were more diverse and could be used in multiple experiments.

The team placed germ-free mice treated with antibiotics in cages with unidentified mice to monitor their social interactions. As expected, both groups of mice avoided interaction with strangers. After this behavioral test, the team conducted several experiments to find out what was going on in the animals' brains that might be the reason behind this strange social dynamic.

The experiments included research on c-Fos, a gene that functions in active brain cells. Compared with normal mice, mice infected with the depleted bacteria showed increased c-Fos gene activity in brain regions involved in stress responses, including the hypothalamus, amygdala and hippocampus.

This rise in brain activity coincided with a rise in the stress hormone corticosterone in germ-free mice treated with antibiotics, while the same increase did not occur in mice with normal microbes. "After social interaction, for just five minutes, significantly higher stress hormones can be detected," researcher Wu said.

The experiments also included turning neurons in the brain of mice on and off at will using a specific drug, and the researchers noted that turning off neurons in mice treated with antibiotics leads to enhanced social communication towards strangers, while turning these cells on in normal mice resulted in a state of avoidance. sudden social interactions.

Diego Bohorquez, a professor at Duke University School of Medicine who specializes in neuroscience and studies the gut-brain connection, who was not involved in the study, said he suspects that a group of microbes work together to modulate stress hormone production. Thus, the experiments could be considered to make a strong case that the gut microbes of normal mice help to engage in social behaviors, while germ-free mice deal with an overproduction of the stress hormone and thus reject their opportunities to socially connect with other mice.

"The question that arises strongly is how to use the gut microbiome to 'talk' to the brain, and thus help control behavior from the depths of the gut," Bohorquez said.

neuropsychiatric disorders

This type of research could one day help scientists treat individuals with neuropsychiatric disorders, such as stress and autism spectrum disorder, Bohorquez added, assuming that some of the observations in animals apply to humans.

treatments for autism

Previous research suggests that stress, anxiety, and autism often co-occur with gastrointestinal disorders, such as constipation and diarrhea, as well as with disruptions to the gut microbiome. For the past decade, Bohorques said, scientists have been investigating this connection between the gut and the brain in hopes of developing new treatment approaches for such disorders.

He added that the results of this study may advance research towards the development of treatments for autism that rely on the gut microbiome, but overall, they highlight "more detail regarding how these microbes affect social behavior."

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