Faculty of Science
Microbiology and Immunology

Early-life enteric bacterial infection alters hippocampal cell fate and leads to cognitive defects

Microscopy images of gut and brain tissue

Publication Date

Publication Journal

Brain, Behaviour, and Immunity

Author(s)

Mahebali M. Tabusi, Antonio Serapio-Palacios, Anna Creus-Cuadros, Asha Octoman, Veronika Lewis, Avril Metcalfe-Roach, Jason S. Snyder, and B. Brett Finlay

Intestinal infections during childhood have been linked to adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes, but the mechanisms mediating this connection are poorly understood. In this study, the authors infected mice with Citrobacter rodentium, which models Escherichia coli infection in humans, during a critical early life period in which the intestine is especially permeable. They discovered that D-lactate, a molecule produced by gut microbes, accumulated in the hippocampus, damaging neurons and leading to cognitive deficits. 

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Microbiology and Immunology

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