Fecal Microbiota Transplantation from Healthy Donors Reduced Alcohol-induced Anxiety and Depression in an Animal Model of Chronic Alcohol Exposure.

Abstract

Alcohol addiction can cause brain dysfunction and threatens both individuals and society. Recently, emerging studies have suggested the dysbiosis of gut microbiota induced by alcohol exposure contributed to the reward-seeking behaviors as well as anxiety, depression. In the current study, animal model of chronic alcohol exposure was established by providing mice with gradient concentrations of alcohol from 2%, 4%, and 6% to 8% for 21 days. Moreover, three fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) plans were innovatively designed to explore the potential effects of FMT from 3 healthy donors on alcohol-induced neuropsychic behaviors. To our knowledge, for the first time, we found that anxiety and depression after alcohol intake were gradually relieved with the extension of transplantation. Although the two-week FMT starting at the end of alcohol treatment had few effects, the transplantation started at 8% ethanol exposure alleviated alcohol-induced depression in tail suspension test. More importantly, accompanied by three-week exposure, the five-week FMT significantly decreased anxiety-like behaviors in open field test and depression in tail suspension test. These data validated the role of gut microbiota in alcohol addiction and indicated the modulation of healthy donor FMT on alcohol-related anxiety and depression, providing a new target for treating alcohol addiction by targeting microbiota.