The effect of LAO1 in mouse breast milk on the offspring hippocampal brain

L-amino acid oxidase 1 (LAO1) is an enzyme that catalyzes the conversion of L-amino acids to α-keto acids, ammonia, and hydrogen peroxide. Previous studies have shown that offspring fed breast milk from LAO1 knockout (KO) mice show clear differences in gut microbiota composition compared to both wild-type (WT) and LAO1 KO mice. LAO1 KO mice also show impaired hippocampal memory function. The primary objective of this study is to determine how changes in the gut microbiota induced by breast milk in LAO1 KO mice affect the brain development of their offspring. To account for potential effects of endogenous LAO1, foster parents were switched on the day the pups were born, with the mother mice being either WT or LAO1 KO and the pups themselves being LAO1 KO. Hippocampi were collected from these mice at postnatal 10 days of age and microarray analysis was performed to reveal altered gene expression associated with the myelin. We compared hippocampal gene expression in LAO1 KO (konckout) offspring at P10 nourished WT and LAO1 KO dams.