The role of the intestinal microbiome in chronic psychosocial stress-Induced pathologies in male mice
peer-reviewed
Erstveröffentlichung
2018-10-26Authors
Langgartner, Dominik
Vaihinger, Carolyn A.
Haffner-Luntzer, Melanie
Weiss, Anna-Lena J.
Förtsch, Sandra
Wissenschaftlicher Artikel
Published in
Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience ; 12 (2018). - Art.-Nr. 252. - eISSN 1662-5153
Link to original publication
https://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnbeh.2018.00252Institutions
UKU. Klinik für Psychosomatische Medizin und PsychotherapieUKU. Institut für Unfallchirurgische Forschung und Biomechanik
Document version
published version (publisher's PDF)Abstract
Chronic psychosocial stress is a risk factor for the development of physical and
mental disorders accompanied or driven by an activated immune system. Given
that chronic stress-induced systemic immune activation is lacking in germ-free and
antibiotics-treated mice, a causal role of the gut microbiome in the development of
stress-related disorders is likely. To address this hypothesis in the current study we
employed the chronic subordinate colony housing (CSC, 19 days) paradigm, a preclinically
validated mouse model for chronic psychosocial stress, known to alter the gut
microbial signature and to induce systemic low-grade inflammation, as well as physical
and mental abnormalities. In detail, we investigated if (i) CSC-induced alterations can be
prevented by repeated transplantation of feces (FT) from non-stressed single-housed
control (SHC) mice during CSC exposure, and (ii) if the transplantation of a “stressed”
CSC microbiome is able to induce CSC effects in SHC mice. Therefore, we repeatedly
infused SHC and CSC recipient mice rectally with SHC donor feces at days 4 and
11 of the CSC paradigm and assessed anxiety-related behavior on day 19 as well
as physiological, immunological, and bone parameters on day 20. Furthermore, SHC
and CSC recipient mice were infused with CSC donor feces at respective days. To
exclude effects of rectal infusions per se, another set of SHC and CSC mice was
infused with saline, respectively. Our results showed that transplantation of SHC feces
had mild stress-protective effects, indicated by an amelioration of CSC-induced thymus
atrophy, anxiety, systemic low-grade inflammation, and alterations in bone homeostasis.
Moreover, transplantation of CSC feces slightly aggravated CSC-induced systemic lowgrade
inflammation and alterations in bone homeostasis in SHC and/or CSC animals. In
conclusion, our data provide evidence for a role of the host’s microbiome in many, but
not all, adverse consequences of chronic psychosocial stress. Moreover, our data are
consistent with the hypothesis that transplantation of healthy feces might be a useful tool
to prevent/treat different adverse outcomes of chronic stress. Finally, our data suggests
that stress effects can be transferred to a certain extend via FT, proposing therapeutic
approaches using FT to carefully screen fecal donors for their stress/trauma history.
Publication funding
Open-Access-Förderung durch die Medizinische Fakultät der Universität Ulm
Subject headings
[GND]: Psychische Belastung | Angst | Entzündung[MeSH]: Stress, Psychological | Anxiety | Inflammation | Microbiota | Fecal microbiota transplantation
[Free subject headings]: Chronic psychosocial stress | Chronic subordinate colony housing (CSC) | Bone homeostasis | Microbiome | Fecal transplantation
[DDC subject group]: DDC 150 / Psychology | DDC 570 / Life sciences
Metadata
Show full item recordDOI & citation
Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://dx.doi.org/10.18725/OPARU-36797
Langgartner, Dominik et al. (2021): The role of the intestinal microbiome in chronic psychosocial stress-Induced pathologies in male mice. Open Access Repositorium der Universität Ulm und Technischen Hochschule Ulm. http://dx.doi.org/10.18725/OPARU-36797
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