gut metagenome Metagenome. gut metagenome

Early exposure to stressful and adverse life events at fetal and neonatal stages is one of crucial risk factors for mood disorders such as anxiety, depressive disorders and schizophrenia in adulthood. Intergenerational effects of prenatal stress on offspring are still not fully understood. We here establish a significant negative impact of prenatal stress on brain development in embryos and newborns, and mood-related behaviors and gut microbiota in adult offspring. Prenatal stress causes reduced neural progenitors and newborn neurons, and altered gene expression profiles in the mouse embryonic cerebral cortex. Even though cross-fostering recovers neuronal production defects, adult mouse offspring experienced prenatal stress still displays altered gene expression in the cortex and elevated responses in anxiety- and depression-like behaviors. Interestingly, prenatal stress has an enduring effect on gut microbiota, as specific microbial community structure is altered in F1 offspring treated with prenatal stress. Our results highlight the essential impact of prenatal stress on cortical neurogenesis, gene expression patterns, mood-related behaviors, and even gut microbiota in the next generation.