Small microbes may be renewed in the brain before birth

• Microbes, or microorganisms, around us and play an important role in physical functions. Researchers at Michigan State University found that microbes could also affect brain growth.
• This work is important because modern generation practices such as the use of antibiotics surrounding vitality and caesarean delivery disturb the microbium for mothers and the birth.

New research from Michigan State University finds that microbes play an important role in shaping early brain growth, specifically in the main brain area that controls stress, social behavior and vital body functions.

The study, published in Hormones and behaviorUse the mouse model to highlight the effect of exposure to natural microbes on the structure of the brain immediately after birth, and may even begin to affect development while the uterus is not. The mouse model has been chosen because the mice shared in great biological and behavioral similarities with humans and there are no other alternatives to the study The role of microbes on the development of the brain.

This work is important because modern generation practices, such as the use of antibiotics surrounding vitality and caesarean delivery, disrupt the mother microbes. In the United States alone, 40 % of women receive antibiotics around childbirth and a third of all births occur across the Caesarean section.

“At birth, a newborn body is colonized by the microbes while traveling via the birth channel,” said Alexandra Castillo Ruiz, the main author of the study and assistant in the MSU.

The research team focused on a brain area called Paravon Core (PVN), which plays a major role in regulating stress, blood pressure, water balance and even social behavior. Their previous work has shown that mice raised without microbes, or germs -free mice had more neurons that die in PVN during early development. The new study began to determine whether the death of these increased cells is translated into changes in the number of neurons in the long run, and if it could be the cause of any effects due to the arrival of microbes at birth or if they start in the womb through signals of the mother microbes.

To find out, the researchers used a cross -out approach. Newborn mice have been placed in germs free with mothers who have microbes and compared to control groups. When the brains of these mice were examined just three days after birth, the results were striking: all the mice that were carried out by the mothers of the maternal mothers of the bacteria are less in PVN, regardless of whether they had received microbes after birth. They also found that the bacterial -free mice have fewer neurons in PVN.

“Our study shows that microbes play an important role in sculpting a stroke of utmost importance to body functions and social behavior. In addition, our study indicates that microbial effects begin in the womb by reference from the mother microbes.”

“Instead of avoiding our microbes, we must get to know them as partners in developing early life. They help build our brains from the beginning,” said Dr. Castillo Ruiz.