Gut Microbiota Are Associated With Psychological Stress-Induced Defections in Intestinal and Blood-Brain Barriers

Study information

Reviewed Marked as Reviewed by KateRasheed on 2025-6-3

study design

laboratory experiment

Citation

PMID PubMed identifier for scientific articles.

32010111

DOI Digital object identifier for electronic documents.

10.3389/fmicb.2019.03067

URI

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6974438/

Authors

Geng S, Yang L, Cheng F, Zhang Z, Li J, Liu W, Li Y, Chen Y, Bao Y, Chen L, Fei Z, Li X, Hou J, Lin Y, Liu Z, Zhang S, Wang H, Zhang Q, Wang H, Wang X, Zhang J

Journal

Frontiers in microbiology

Year

2019

Keywords:

blood–brain barrier, communication box, dysbiosis, gut microbiota, intestinal barrier, psychological stress, tight junction

Altered gut microbiota has been identified during psychological stress, which causes severe health issues worldwide. The integrity of the intestinal barrier and blood-brain barrier regulates the process of bacterial translocation and can supply the nervous system with real-time information about the environment. However, the association of gut microbiota with psychological stress remains to be fully interpreted. In this study, we established a psychological stress model using an improved communication box and compared the expression of tight junction proteins in multiple regions of the intestinal (duodenum, jejunum, ileum) and blood-brain (amygdala, hippocampus) barriers between model and control rats. We also conducted fecal microbiota analysis using 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Expression levels of the stress-related indicators adrenocorticotropic hormone, NR3C1,2, and norepinephrine were increased in the model group compared to control group. Psychological stress reduced brain and intestinal levels of tight junction proteins, including claudin5, occludin, α-actin, and ZO-1. Microbiota analysis revealed elevated microbial diversity and fecal proportions of Intestinimonas, Catenisphaera, and Globicatella in the model group. Further analysis indicated a negative correlation of Allisonella and Odoribacter, as well as a positive correlation of norank_f__Peptococcaceae, Clostridium_sensu_stricto_1, and Coprococcus_2, with claudin5, occludin, α-actin, and ZO-1. Our use of a rodent model to explore the association between compromised intestinal and blood-brain barriers and altered fecal microbiota under psychological stress improves our understanding of the gut-brain axis. Here, cues converge to control basic developmental processes in the intestine and brain such as barrier function. This study provides new directions for investigating the pathogenesis of emotional disorders and the formulation of clinical treatment.

Experiment 1

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Reviewed Marked as Reviewed by KateRasheed on 2025-6-3

Curated date: 2025/05/06

Curator: Shulamite

Revision editor(s): Shulamite, Victoria

Subjects

Location of subjects: China

Host species Species from which microbiome was sampled. Contact us to have more species added.: Rattus norvegicus

Body site Anatomical site where microbial samples were extracted from according to the Uber Anatomy Ontology: Feces Cow dung,Cow pat,Droppings,Dung,Excrement,Excreta,Faeces,Fecal material,Fecal matter,Fewmet,Frass,Guano,Matières fécales@fr,Merde@fr,Ordure,Partie de la merde@fr,Piece of shit,Porción de mierda@es,Portion of dung,Portion of excrement,Portion of faeces,Portion of fecal material,Portion of fecal matter,Portion of feces,Portion of guano,Portion of scat,Portionem cacas,Scat,Spoor,Spraint,Stool,Teil der fäkalien@de,Feces,feces

Condition The experimental condition / phenotype studied according to the Experimental Factor Ontology: Response to stress response to abiotic stress,response to biotic stress,Response to stress,response to stress

Group 0 name Corresponds to the control (unexposed) group for case-control studies: Control group

Group 1 name Corresponds to the case (exposed) group for case-control studies: Psychological-stress model group

Group 1 definition Diagnostic criteria applied to define the specific condition / phenotype represented in the case (exposed) group: Rats that received psychological stress stimulation through the communication box system for 28 days.

Group 0 sample size Number of subjects in the control (unexposed) group: 6

Group 1 sample size Number of subjects in the case (exposed) group: 6

Lab analysis

Sequencing type: 16S

16S variable region One or more hypervariable region(s) of the bacterial 16S gene: V3-V4

Sequencing platform Manufacturer and experimental platform used for quantifying microbial abundance: Illumina

Statistical Analysis

Data transformation Data transformation applied to microbial abundance measurements prior to differential abundance testing (if any).: relative abundances

Statistical test: LEfSe

Significance threshold p-value or FDR threshold used for differential abundance testing (if any): 0.05

MHT correction Have statistical tests be corrected for multiple hypothesis testing (MHT)?: No

LDA Score above Threshold for the linear discriminant analysis (LDA) score for studies using the popular LEfSe tool: 2

Alpha Diversity

Richness Number of species: increased

Signature 1

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Reviewed Marked as Reviewed by KateRasheed on 2025-6-3

Curated date: 2025/05/06

Curator: Shulamite

Revision editor(s): Shulamite

Source: Fig. 4E and F

Description: Results of LEfSe analysis and key taxa found by LDA analysis (multigroup comparison strategy: one-against-all, LDA > 2, P < 0.05).

Abundance in Group 1: increased abundance in Psychological-stress model group

NCBI	Quality Control	Links
Acidaminococcaceae
Aerococcaceae
Allisonella
Allobaculum
Anaerovoracaceae
Bacillales
Bacteroidales
Catenisphaera
Coprococcus
Coriobacteriaceae
Desulfovibrio
Erysipelotrichaceae
Erysipelotrichales
Eubacteriales Family XII. Incertae Sedis
Gemella
Globicatella
Holdemanella
Negativicutes
Odoribacter
Oribacterium
Peptococcus
Phascolarctobacterium
Prevotellaceae
Selenomonadales
Treponema
unclassified Bacteroidales
unclassified Erysipelotrichaceae
Prevotellaceae_UCG_004Prevotellaceae_UCG_004

Revision editor(s): Shulamite

Signature 2

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Reviewed Marked as Reviewed by KateRasheed on 2025-6-3

Curated date: 2025/05/07

Curator: Shulamite

Revision editor(s): Shulamite, Victoria, KateRasheed

Source: Fig. 4E and F

Description: Results of LEfSe analysis and key taxa found by LDA analysis (multigroup comparison strategy: one-against-all, LDA > 2, P < 0.05).

Abundance in Group 1: decreased abundance in Psychological-stress model group

NCBI	Quality Control	Links
Bilophila
Butyricimonas
Christensenellaceae
Clostridium
Eubacteriales
Faecalitalea
Intestinimonas
Mycoplasma
Mycoplasmataceae
Mycoplasmatales
Oscillibacter
Peptococcaceae
Peptostreptococcaceae
Romboutsia
Turicibacter
Tyzzerella
[Bacteroides] pectinophilus
unclassified Eubacteriales
Prevotellaceae_UCG_001Prevotellaceae_UCG_001
Ruminiclostridium_6Ruminiclostridium_6
Christensenellaceae_R_7_groupChristensenellaceae_R_7_group
Ruminococcaceae_UCG_010Ruminococcaceae_UCG_010
Clostridiales_vadinBB60_groupClostridiales_vadinBB60_group
Ruminococcaceae_UCG_013Ruminococcaceae_UCG_013

Revision editor(s): Shulamite, Victoria, KateRasheed