Priming of microglia with dysfunctional gut microbiota impairs hippocampal neurogenesis and fosters stress vulnerability of mice

Fecal samples for microbiome analysis were collected before CUMS (0-week) and after CUMS (4-week) from donor animals whose time spent in the open arms of the EPMT, immobility time in the FST, and sucrose preference were within 1 standard deviation of the mean values for control mice. Ctrl-FMT mice and CUMS-FMT mice were subjected for 3 weeks to two or three of the stressors. Some animals were injected intraperitoneally once daily with minocycline in dimethyl sulfoxide throughout the 3-week stress period. Shotgun metagenome sequencing was performed to quantitatively assess differences in bacterial species composition between groups, and the data were analyzed using the Penn CHOP Microbiome Program.