High-coverage metabolomics uncovers microbiota-driven biochemical landscape of interorgan transport and gut-brain communication in mice
Year: 2021
Type: article
Abstract: The mammalian gut harbors a complex and dynamic microbial ecosystem: the microbiota. While emerging studies support that microbiota regulates brain function with a few molecular cues suggested, the overall biochemical landscape of the "microbiota-gut-brain axis" remains largely unclear. Here we use high-coverage metabolomics to comparatively profile feces, blood sera, and cerebral cortical brain tissues of germ-free C57BL/6 mice and their age-matched conventionally raised counterparts. Results revealed for all three matrices metabolomic signatures owing to microbiota, yielding hundreds of identified metabolites including 533 altered for feces, 231 for sera, and 58 for brain with numerous significantly enriched pathways involving aromatic amino acids and neurotransmitters. Multicompartmental comparative analyses single out microbiota-derived metabolites potentially implicated in interorgan transport and the gut-brain axis, as exemplified by indoxyl sulfate and trimethylamine-N-oxide. Gender-specific characteristics of these landscapes are discussed. Our findings may be valuable for future research probing microbial influences on host metabolism and gut-brain communication.
Source: Nature Communications
Institution: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Language: English
Topic: Gut microbiota and health
Subfield: Molecular Biology
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $5,560
Awards: G1013310764, G1017297203, G1100806732, G1102511429, G1722824815, G224657466, G2755120695, Environmental-use chemicals that target pathways linked to autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders, The gut microbiome and glyphosate neurotoxicity, G5233818115, G5238393134, Functional interaction between the gut microbiome and arsenic exposure, UNC-CH CENTER FOR ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH & SUSCEPTIBILITY, The UNC Chapel Hill Superfund Research Program (UNC-SRP)
OpenAlex ID: W3207459105