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Updated: May 28, 2025
Preparation of Acute Hippocampal Slices from Rats and Transgenic Mice for the Study of Synaptic Alterations during Aging and Amyloid Pathology
Published on: March 23, 2011
Dynamic changes in the gut microbiota play a critical role in age-associated cognitive dysfunction via SCFAs and LPS
Xiaoying Ma1, Jiaying Liu2, Lei Jiang2
1Central Laboratory, The First Hospital of Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang 050031, PR China; Hebei International Joint Research Center for Brain Science, Shijiazhuang 050031, PR China; Hebei Key Laboratory of Brain Science and Psychiatric-Psychologic Disease, Shijiazhuang 050031, PR China; College of Forensic Medicine, Hebei Medical University, Hebei Key Laboratory of Forensic Medicine, Hebei Province, Shijiazhuang 050017, PR China.
Background:
Gut microbiota plays an essential role in cognitive dysfunction during aging. The aim of this study was to investigate the dynamic alterations in the gut microbiota and screen for key gut bacterial taxa correlated with age-associated cognitive dysfunction during natural aging.
Methods:
16S rRNA gene sequencing was performed to determine the composition of the gut microbiota in faecal samples from SAMR1 and SAMP8 mice, cognitively normal controls (NC), and patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI). Faecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) and GMrepo database were used to screen key gut microbiota associated with cognitive decline in aging mice and humans.
Results:
The composition of the gut microbiota dynamically changed during natural aging in SAMR1 and SAMP8 mice, as well as in healthy subjects of different ages extracted from the GMrepo database. FMT from SAMR1 to SAMP8 mice altered the gut microbiota composition and improved the cognitive impairment in SAMP8 mice. Key gut bacterial taxa, including Lactobacillus, Akkermansia, Clostridium, Oscillospira and Dorea, were screened and validated to correlate with aging-associated cognitive decline. The function of the key gut bacterial taxa predicted by PICRUSt2 indicated that the metabolic pathways related to short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) synthesis were involved in age-associated cognitive dysfunction during natural aging.
Conclusion:
These results demonstrate that the composition of the gut microbiota changes dynamically during brain aging, with some key gut bacterial taxa playing critical roles in age-associated cognitive dysfunction through SCFAs and LPS synthesis metabolic pathways.
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