TY - JOUR
T1 - Transplantation of microbiota from drug-free patients with schizophrenia causes schizophrenia-like abnormal behaviors and dysregulated kynurenine metabolism in mice
AU - Zhu, Feng
AU - Guo, Ruijin
AU - Wang, Wei
AU - Ju, Yanmei
AU - Wang, Qi
AU - Ma, Qingyan
AU - Sun, Qiang
AU - Fan, Yajuan
AU - Xie, Yuying
AU - Yang, Zai
AU - Jie, Zhuye
AU - Zhao, Binbin
AU - Xiao, Liang
AU - Yang, Lin
AU - Zhang, Tao
AU - Liu, Bing
AU - Guo, Liyang
AU - He, Xiaoyan
AU - Chen, Yunchun
AU - Chen, Ce
AU - Gao, Chengge
AU - Xu, Xun
AU - Yang, Huanming
AU - Wang, Jian
AU - Dang, Yonghui
AU - Madsen, Lise
AU - Brix, Susanne
AU - Kristiansen, Karsten
AU - Jia, Huijue
AU - Ma, Xiancang
PY - 2020/11/1
Y1 - 2020/11/1
N2 - Accumulating evidence suggests that gut microbiota plays a role in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia via the microbiota–gut–brain axis. This study sought to investigate whether transplantation of fecal microbiota from drug-free patients with schizophrenia into specific pathogen-free mice could cause schizophrenia-like behavioral abnormalities. The results revealed that transplantation of fecal microbiota from schizophrenic patients into antibiotic-treated mice caused behavioral abnormalities such as psychomotor hyperactivity, impaired learning and memory in the recipient animals. These mice also showed elevation of the kynurenine–kynurenic acid pathway of tryptophan degradation in both periphery and brain, as well as increased basal extracellular dopamine in prefrontal cortex and 5-hydroxytryptamine in hippocampus, compared with their counterparts receiving feces from healthy controls. Furthermore, colonic luminal filtrates from the mice transplanted with patients’ fecal microbiota increased both kynurenic acid synthesis and kynurenine aminotransferase II activity in cultured hepatocytes and forebrain cortical slices. Sixty species of donor-derived bacteria showed significant difference between the mice colonized with the patients’ and the controls’ fecal microbiota, highlighting 78 differentially enriched functional modules including tryptophan biosynthesis function. In conclusion, our study suggests that the abnormalities in the composition of gut microbiota contribute to the pathogenesis of schizophrenia partially through the manipulation of tryptophan–kynurenine metabolism.
AB - Accumulating evidence suggests that gut microbiota plays a role in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia via the microbiota–gut–brain axis. This study sought to investigate whether transplantation of fecal microbiota from drug-free patients with schizophrenia into specific pathogen-free mice could cause schizophrenia-like behavioral abnormalities. The results revealed that transplantation of fecal microbiota from schizophrenic patients into antibiotic-treated mice caused behavioral abnormalities such as psychomotor hyperactivity, impaired learning and memory in the recipient animals. These mice also showed elevation of the kynurenine–kynurenic acid pathway of tryptophan degradation in both periphery and brain, as well as increased basal extracellular dopamine in prefrontal cortex and 5-hydroxytryptamine in hippocampus, compared with their counterparts receiving feces from healthy controls. Furthermore, colonic luminal filtrates from the mice transplanted with patients’ fecal microbiota increased both kynurenic acid synthesis and kynurenine aminotransferase II activity in cultured hepatocytes and forebrain cortical slices. Sixty species of donor-derived bacteria showed significant difference between the mice colonized with the patients’ and the controls’ fecal microbiota, highlighting 78 differentially enriched functional modules including tryptophan biosynthesis function. In conclusion, our study suggests that the abnormalities in the composition of gut microbiota contribute to the pathogenesis of schizophrenia partially through the manipulation of tryptophan–kynurenine metabolism.
U2 - 10.1038/s41380-019-0475-4
DO - 10.1038/s41380-019-0475-4
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 31391545
AN - SCOPUS:85070322459
SN - 1359-4184
JO - Molecular Psychiatry
JF - Molecular Psychiatry
ER -