Ageing
Substances made by gut microbes could account for a cognitive boost from faecal transplants.
Poo transplants from young mice can enhance cognitive function in older animals.
John Cryan at University College Cork in Ireland and his colleagues collected faecal samples from young mice and transplanted them into the guts of elderly mice. They then put the old mice through a series of cognitive tests designed to measure memory, anxiety and learning capacity.
Old mice that received faecal transplants from youthful donors did better on these cognitive tests than did counterparts that got transplants from other old mice. When the researchers looked at the hippocampus — the brain region that regulates learning and memory — they found gene activity patterns and metabolic changes that have been previously linked with improved cognitive function and immune function in the brain.
The researchers suspect that metabolic activity in the ‘young’ gut bacteria produces molecules that cross the blood–brain barrier and rejuvenate the ageing brain.
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