Intestinal microenvironment intervention by live and heat-inactivated Bifidobacterium animalis J12 before pregnancy ameliorates neurodevelopmental abnormalities in prenatally stressed rat offspring by activating focal adhesion pathways in hippocampus

Prenatal stress has the potential to induce emotional and cognitive impairments in the progeny, impacting their neurological growth significantly. It is still unknown whether intestinal microenvironment intervention by probiotics before pregnancy can alleviate PS and improve the health of the offspring.This findings provided that B. animalis J12 live and heat-inactivated cells significantly reduced the concentration of corticosterone in serum of PS rats, ameliorated the neurological damage and increased the abundance of neurodevelopmentally beneficial species in the intestine of offspring, such as Lactobacillus, Romboutsia, unclassified__f__Oscillospiraceae, unclassified__f__Lachnospiraceae, and others. B. animalis J12 live and heat-inactivated cells increased the intestinal levels of Sterigmatocystin and Phosphocreatine. By modulating the structure of intestinal flora, B. animalis J12 live cells activated the focal adhesion pathway and inhibited complement activation, heat-inactivated cells activated the focal adhesion pathway and increased the expression of glutamine transporter proteins to alleviate neurological damage and neuroinflammation, and to improve learning and memory disorders as well as affective disorders.