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Dietary prebiotics modulate fecal microbiota and impact cognitive functions in developing rodents (LB376)
Author(s) -
Waworuntu Rosaline,
Chichlowski Maciej,
Cox Stephen,
Berg Brian
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.28.1_supplement.lb376
Subject(s) - prebiotic , firmicutes , bacteroidetes , biology , gut flora , feces , polydextrose , microbiome , bifidobacterium , cecum , weaning , food science , lactobacillus , microbiology and biotechnology , zoology , bacteria , biochemistry , fermentation , 16s ribosomal rna , bioinformatics , ecology , genetics
We previously observed that providing dietary prebiotics polydextrose (PDX) and galactooligosaccharide (GOS) to rodents at weaning positively influences behavior and cognitive functions later in life. Specifically, weanling Long Evans (LE) rats fed PDX‐GOS (7 g/kg each) diet for 35 days had significantly better memory than rats fed a control diet (P<0.05). Here, we compared the microbiota from fecal samples of the rats fed control and prebiotic diets to assess whether alteration in the gut microbiota is associated with the improved cognitive functions. Pyrosequencing of the V3‐V5 region of 16S rRNA genes showed a significant shift of the gut microbiota in prebiotic fed rats relative to control. Firmicutes were dominant in both groups, while Tenericutes and Bacteroidetes were abundant in prebiotic and control fed rats, respectively. There was a decrease in bacterial diversity from postnatal day (pd) 21 to pd 55 in the prebiotic group. At the genus level, the microbiome of the control diet rats was dominated by Clostridium while prebiotic feeding resulted in significantly higher proportion of the short‐chain fatty acid producing bacteria, Allobacculum (p<0.0001), and significantly lower proportion of Clostridium (p<0.05). These findings indicate that LE rats with improved cognitive functions in response to PDX‐GOS diet displayed a considerable shift in fecal microbial communities.