Postnatal Prebiotic Supplementation Has Long-Term Anxiolytic Effects, and Alters Hippocampal Network Activity, Developmental Metabolomics and Gut Microbiota in Male Rats

Abstract

Feeding neonatal rats with a prebiotic (Bimuno galacto-oligosaccharides, B-GOS®), increased hippocampal NMDAR proteins. Here, we tested the effects of postnatal B-GOS® supplementation on anxious behavior, hippocampal electrophysiology, metabolomics, and faecal metagenomics in young, adolescent and adult rats. Postnatal, but not post-wean, B-GOS® administration reduced anxiety-like behaviour in adulthood, decreased the fast decay component of Τ (tau) of hippocampus CA1 NMDA currents and changed the age-specific modifications of the metabolomes of the brain, liver and intestines. Age, but not diet, affected the composition of the fecal microbiome overall on taxonomic genus level. However, B-GOS® supplementation reduced the abundance of Enterococcus and Dorea genera. In conclusion, the long-term anxiolytic effect of early-life B-GOS® intake, may be linked to altered hippocampal NMDA receptors kinetics. The prebiotic mediated changes in gut Enterococcus and Dorea and age-specific metabolic trajectories of central and peripheral tissues, may have contributed to the prolonged behavioural effect.