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Updated: Jun 23, 2026
07:13
Experience-Dependent Remodeling of Juvenile Brain Olfactory Sensory Neuron Synaptic Connectivity in an Early-Life Critical Period
Published on: March 1, 2024
The Critical Period Microbiota Shape Brain Plasticity
Biorxiv : the Preprint Server for Biology
|June 22, 2026
Summary
Disrupting the gut microbiota in young mice with antibiotics harms visual cortex plasticity. Restoring the juvenile gut microbiota in adults can recover this plasticity, highlighting a critical developmental window.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Microbiology
- Developmental Biology
Background:
- The gut microbiota's influence on brain function is recognized.
- Its role in postnatal experience-dependent plasticity is largely unknown.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the gut microbiota's role in visual cortex plasticity during postnatal development.
- To determine if microbial disruptions impact ocular dominance plasticity (ODP).
Main Methods:
- Antibiotics were used to disrupt the gut microbiota in juvenile mice during critical developmental periods.
- Transcriptional changes in the visual cortex were analyzed.
- Fecal microbiota transplantation was performed from juvenile to adult mice.
Main Results:
- Antibiotic treatment impaired ocular dominance plasticity (ODP) in juvenile mice.
- Microbial disruption led to significant transcriptional remodeling in the visual cortex, affecting key pathways.
- Fecal transplantation restored ODP in adult recipients, indicating microbiota-dependent plasticity.
Conclusions:
- The gut microbiota is a novel regulator of neurodevelopmental plasticity.
- Microbiota-dependent critical periods for brain development exist.
- Early-life microbial disturbances can have long-term effects on brain function, and juvenile microbiota signals may enhance adult plasticity.
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