Is adolescence the missing developmental link in Microbiome–Gut–Brain axis communication?

Abstract

Gut microbial research has recently opened new frontiers in neuroscience and potentiated novel therapies for mental health problems (Mayer, et al., 2014). Much of our understanding of the gut microbiome's role in brain function and behavior, however, has been largely derived from research on nonhuman animals. Even less is known about how the development of the gut microbiome influences critical periods of neural and behavioral development, particularly adolescence. In this review, we first discuss why the gut microbiome has become increasingly relevant to developmental cognitive neuroscience and provide a synopsis of the known connections of the gut microbiome with social–affective brain function and behavior, specifically highlighting human developmental work when possible. We then focus on adolescence, a key period of neurobiological and social–affective development. Specifically, we review the links between the gut microbiome and six overarching domains of change during adolescence: (a) social processes, (b) motivation and behavior, (c) neural development, (d) cognition, (e) neuroendocrine function, and (f) physical health and wellness. Using a developmental science perspective, we summarize key changes across these six domains to underscore the promise for the gut microbiome to bidirectionally influence and transform adolescent development.

Gut Microbiota: Effect of Pubertal Status

“…Yet the latter children had members of genus Sutterella that were signi cantly more prevalent than the former subjects. Few studies have addressed differences in gut microbiota as children age (17). A recent high-throughput analysis of distal gut microbiota found that adolescents harbor a less complex and considerably different microbiota from that of adults, even though they apparently share a core microbiota con guration (5,6).…”

“…However, although healthy pre-adolescent children (ages 7-12 years) and adults harbored similar numbers of taxa and functional genes, their relative composition differed signi cantly (4). Nonetheless, a large scale study by Enck et al using conventional colony plating to assess numbers of several bacterial genera, found no noticeable changes in children between [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18] years old, including stable levels of Bi dobacterium and Lactobacillus (5). Recently, with the expansion and availability of bacterial DNA sequencing technology, a study revealed that comparison of distal intestinal microbiota composition between adolescents (11-18 years of age) and adults, a statistically signi cant higher abundance of the genera Bi dobacterium and Clostridium was found in adolescent samples.…”

Gut Microbiota: Effect of Pubertal Status

“…Yet the latter children had members of genus Sutterella that were signi cantly more prevalent than the former subjects. Few studies have addressed differences in gut microbiota as children age (17). A recent high-throughput analysis of distal gut microbiota found that even though adolescents apparently share a core microbiota con guration with that of adults, they harbor a less complex and considerably different microbiota : Compared with adults, the abundance of Clostridia, Bi dobacterium and Clostridium genera were signi cantly higher in adolescents (2,5,6).…”

Annual Research Review: Critical windows – the microbiota–gut–brain axis in neurocognitive development

“…Diet continues to play an important role in determining microbiota composition throughout life; even short manipulations of diet in adulthood can have rapid effects on the microbiota (David et al, 2014;Johnson et al, 2019). This is intriguing given that diet tends to change over the life span, with adolescents being particularly prone to poor food choices, in combination with drug and alcohol experimentation, at a time when their microbiota and brains are still developing (Flannery et al, 2019;McVey Neufeld et al, 2016).…”