RESEARCHERS have discovered that gut microbes play an important part in brain function, and if you transplant gut microbes from primates into mice, their tiny little brains start working like those of ours and our close cousins.
The team from Northwestern University implanted gut microbes from two large-brain primate species (human and squirrel monkey) and one small-brain primate species (macaque) into microbe-free mice.
In the mice with large-brain primate microbes, the researchers found increased expression of genes associated with energy production and synaptic plasticity, the physical process of learning in the brain.
Another surprising discovery was a pattern of gene expression associated with ADHD, schizophrenia, bipolar and autism in mice with the microbes from smaller-brained primates.
"This study provides more evidence that microbes may causally contribute to these disorders - specifically, the gut microbiome is shaping brain function during development," said study lead Katie Amato.
She said this suggests that if the human brain is exposed to the actions of the 'wrong' microbes, its development will change and we will see symptoms of these disorders.
Whether or not the mice developed a penchant for eating bananas, climbing trees or sitting on the sofa for hours binge-watching Netflix unfortunately wasn't mentioned.
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