Gut Bacteria Linked to Behavior

[Geriatrix]

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/05/110517110315.htm

For the first time, researchers at McMaster University have conclusive evidence that bacteria residing in the gut influence brain chemistry and behaviour.

The findings are important because several common types of gastrointestinal disease, including irritable bowel syndrome, are frequently associated with anxiety or depression. In addition there has been speculation that some psychiatric disorders, such as late onset autism, may be associated with an abnormal bacterial content in the gut.

"The exciting results provide stimulus for further investigating a microbial component to the causation of behavioural illnesses," said Stephen Collins, professor of medicine and associate dean research, Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine. Collins and Premysl Bercik, assistant professor of medicine, undertook the research in the Farncombe Family Digestive Health Research Institute.

The research appears in the online edition of the journal Gastroenterology.

For each person, the gut is home to about 1,000 trillium bacteria with which we live in harmony. These bacteria perform a number of functions vital to health: They harvest energy from the diet, protect against infections and provide nutrition to cells in the gut. Any disruption can result in life-threatening conditions, such as antibiotic-induced colitis from infection with the "superbug" Clostridium difficile.

Working with healthy adult mice, the researchers showed that disrupting the normal bacterial content of the gut with antibiotics produced changes in behaviour; the mice became less cautious or anxious. This change was accompanied by an increase in brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), which has been linked, to depression and anxiety.

When oral antibiotics were discontinued, bacteria in the gut returned to normal. "This was accompanied by restoration of normal behaviour and brain chemistry," Collins said.

To confirm that bacteria can influence behaviour, the researchers colonized germ-free mice with bacteria taken from mice with a different behavioural pattern. They found that when germ-free mice with a genetic background associated with passive behaviour were colonized with bacteria from mice with higher exploratory behaviour, they became more active and daring. Similarly, normally active mice became more passive after receiving bacteria from mice whose genetic background is associated with passive behaviour.

While previous research has focused on the role bacteria play in brain development early in life, Collins said this latest research indicates that while many factors determine behaviour, the nature and stability of bacteria in the gut appear to influence behaviour and any disruption , from antibiotics or infection, might produce changes in behaviour. Bercik said that these results lay the foundation for investigating the therapeutic potential of probiotic bacteria and their products in the treatment of behavioural disorders, particularly those associated with gastrointestinal conditions such as irritable bowel syndrome.

The research was funded by grants from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of Canada (CCFC).

 

[Picard]

Damn, I have IBS. This explains why I am such a nervous person.

 

[Ancalagon]

Damn, I have IBS. This explains why I am such a nervous person.

Afraid to cough?

(I hope you've heard that joke)

 

[Picard]

Afraid to cough?

(I hope you've heard that joke)

Nope, please explain.

 

[Ancalagon]

Nope, please explain.

So, there is this trainee pharmacist working at a new pharmacy.

A man comes into the pharmacy, complaining of a cough. But there is a problem, the pharmacist has completely run out of cough medicine. So, the trainee prescribes very strong laxatives to the man, and he leaves happy.

The senior pharmacist has been watching this, and asks the trainee pharmacist "But he had a cough - why prescribe him laxatives?"

So she says, "Well now he'll be too afraid to cough!"

 

[Picard]

Hehe

 

[Other Pineapple Smurf]

(Patiently waits for Golden Products Troll to join thread )

 

[murraybiscuit]

[-]the devil[/-] my gut bacteria made me do it.

 

[JoseP]

I'm donating my body to science.

I am running a scientific experiment on myself.

I bought some yogurt from Woolworths which supposedly contains probiotic cultures.

I will let you know in a few days' time if my mood is improved.

The probiotic yogurt from woolworths helps my stomach not feel bloated. I think it works

 

[murraybiscuit]

The probiotic yogurt from woolworths helps my stomach not feel bloated. I think it works

except for the one where they slip in granadilla pips and then call it "fruits of the cape".
that one definitely gives me a bad mood.

 

[Geriatrix]

I'm donating my body to science.

I am running a scientific experiment on myself.

I bought some yogurt from Woolworths which supposedly contains probiotic cultures.

I will let you know in a few days' time if my mood is improved.

We need a control. I will volunteer to live on nothingbut junkfood for the same time. For science.

 

[porchrat]

After several weeks of eating the Woolworths yogurt which claims to contain probiotic cultures, I am unable to discern a significant improvement in my mood.

Hence I will not be eating this yogurt anymore as part of a mental hygiene regimen.

I will probably still eat yogurt to satisfy my calcium requirements and since the Woolworths yogurt tastes so much better than the Spar yogurt, together with the fact that I am boycotting the local Spar as far as I can (because of their dirty parking lot and all the urban decay they have attracted to the area by opening a bottle store on their premises) I will probably still buy the Woolworths yogurt, but in smaller quantities.

LOL that darn urban decay!

Seriously though you have a mental hygiene regime? :erm:

 

[Nothxkbi]

According to one of the neurologists in our building here, your intestines are connected directly to your central nervous system. It's why when you have an upset tummy, hangover, food poisoning etc you feel so terrible, mentally and emotionally at your worst. Only recently found that out.

 

[murraybiscuit]

According to one of the neurologists in our building here, your intestines are connected directly to your central nervous system. It's why when you have an upset tummy, hangover, food poisoning etc you feel so terrible, mentally and emotionally at your worst. Only recently found that out.

I'm no biologist but this doesn't make much sense to me. Does this mean that if you have sickness which is localized outside of the stomach you feel happy?

 

[murraybiscuit]

Mental hygiene is when you proactively do things which help prevent mental illness.

Other than iodine what forms part of this proactive diet?

 

[Nothxkbi]

I'm no biologist but this doesn't make much sense to me. Does this mean that if you have sickness which is localized outside of the stomach you feel happy?

It would seem to me that things which affect the stomach have a bigger impact on your emotional status, but that certainly doesn't play down how awefull you feel with a 3rd degree burn on your hand, a broken leg, toothache. Stomach illnesses like IBS or Fibromyalgia bring on other symptoms like chronic depression and anxiety. A toothache wouldn't do that.

 

[murraybiscuit]

I do not understand your reference to iodine.

For example: get enough sleep, do not engage in elaborate mental fantasies, do not entertain negative thoughts, etc.

I see, so it's a greater mental health regime beyond diet. Interesting.

FYI (credit to copa)

According to WHO, in 2007, nearly 2 billion individuals had insufficient iodine intake, a third being of school age. ... Thus iodine deficiency, as the single greatest preventable cause of mental retardation, is an important public-health problem."[1]

 

[porchrat]

I do not understand your reference to iodine.

For example: get enough sleep, do not engage in elaborate mental fantasies, do not entertain negative thoughts, etc.

Yea I'm just amazed that you actually have a "mental hygiene regime" as though it is something special that you work at and is scheduled... like brushing your teeth. All people that aren't in institutions perform the above actions pretty much constantly.

 

[murraybiscuit]

Yea I'm just amazed that you actually have a "mental hygiene regime" as though it is something special that you work at and is scheduled... like brushing your teeth. All people that aren't in institutions perform the above actions pretty much constantly.

I donno hey, from the looks of things more people need to practice the "do not engage in elaborate mental fantasies" bit

 

[porchrat]

I donno hey, from the looks of things more people need to practice the "do not engage in elaborate mental fantasies" bit

Yea but they belong in institutions. So they fall into the first category.

rza for example. He belongs in an institution. He is a potentially dangerous individual.