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Updated: Jul 9, 2025

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Probiotic Studies in Neonatal Mice Using Gavage
Published on: January 27, 2019
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Microbiota-dependent early life programming of gastrointestinal motility
Biorxiv : the Preprint Server for Biology
|November 28, 2023
Summary
Early life gut microbes are crucial for developing normal gut motility. Introducing gut microbes after weaning, rather than at weaning, resulted in impaired enteric nervous system development and lasting motility issues in mice.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Microbiology
- Gastroenterology
Background:
- The enteric nervous system (ENS) controls gut function and develops postnatally.
- Gut microbes influence the ENS, but their role in ENS development is not fully understood.
- Adult nervous system function is known to depend on early-life stimuli.
Conclusions:
- A microbiota-dependent sensitive period exists for ENS development.
- Early-life gut microbial colonization is critical for establishing normal gut motility later in life.
- Dysmotility in later life may be linked to the early-life microbiome's influence on ENS development.
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