What Makes a Successful Donor? Fecal Transplant from Anxious-Like Rats Does Not Prevent Spinal Cord Injury-Induced Dysbiosis

Biology, 2021 · DOI: 10.3390/biology10040254 · Published: March 24, 2021

Spinal Cord Injury Neurology Gastroenterology

Simple Explanation

Spinal cord injury disrupts the composition of gut bacteria and increases the prevalence of anxiety-like and depressive-like behaviours. We have previously shown that a fecal transplant from uninjured donor rats prevents both injury-induced microbiota changes and the development of anxiety-like behaviour. The results of this study emphasize the importance of optimal donor selection for successful fecal transplant treatment following spinal cord injury.

Study Duration

7 Weeks

Participants

40 female adult Lewis rats

Evidence Level

Not specified

Key Findings

1
Fecal transplant from uninjured donor rats with increased anxiety-like behaviour was not only ineffective in preventing injury-induced microbiota changes, but it also increased intestinal permeability and anxiety-like behaviour of the recipient rats.
2
FMT from anxious donors did not prevent SCI-induced gut dysbiosis and even resulted in some negative side effects.
3
Treatment with FMT from anxious donors resulted in a chronic (77 days post injury) decrease in the percentage area of IBA+ immunoreactivity caudal to (p = 0.046), but not rostral to or at, the lesion site compared to vehicle controls

Research Summary

In the present study, we aimed to determine whether the mental state of FMT donor rats would inﬂuence the therapeutic beneﬁts of FMT after SCI. Contrary to our hypothesis, FMT from anxious donors did not prevent SCI-induced gut dysbiosis and even resulted in some negative side effects. These results indicate that donor selection is critical for successful FMT following SCI and possibly other CNS injuries and diseases as well.

Practical Implications

Donor Screening

Vigilant donor selection beyond the exclusion of known pathogens is essential to improve the success of FMT.

Psychiatric History

Even minor behavioral abnormalities in donors can impact the success of FMT and may explain inconsistent long-term results of FMT treatment for psychiatric disorders.

Lactobacillus Importance

Future work should investigate whether specific bacteria (such as Lactobacillus) are required for successful FMT.

Study Limitations

1
More detailed sequencing may be required to detect differences at the species level, as there are over 260 metabolically unique Lactobacillus strains and only some species are used in probiotics [34,75].
2
intestinal permeability assay was run in rats with increased baseline levels of anxiety-like behaviour.
3
Although we did not measure systemic LPS, the chemokines LIX and RANTES (both of which are upregulated by LPS) were significantly increased in FMT treated rats 77 days after injury.

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