New Evidence of a Microflora-Gut-Brain Communication

Professor Collins’ lecture, titled “Brain-gut axis and intestinal microbiota”, unveiled the most recent work conducted by his coworkers bringing solid evidences that the gut microflora can talk to the brain and change behavior as well as brain chemistry in animals.

Sep 12 2011 --- “By transferring the gut microflora from one subject to another we also transfer their behavior.” This is the astonishing conclusion of a Canadian experiment conducted on mice, as part of a research program aimed at investigating the microflora-gut-brain axis and the effects microflora changes could have at brain level. This and other results were presented by Professor S. Collins, from Mc Master University (Ontario, Canada), at the 6th Probiotics, Prebiotics & New Foods Congress, in Rome, on September 11, 2011.

Professor Collins’ lecture, titled “Brain-gut axis and intestinal microbiota”, unveiled the most recent work conducted by his coworkers bringing solid evidences that the gut microflora can talk to the brain and change behavior as well as brain chemistry in animals. He also demonstrated that certain probiotic bacteria have an effect at brain–level and are able to reduce anxiety-like behavior in animals, as illustrated by recent animal work with Lactobacillus Rosell-52 and Bifidobacterium Rosell-175 (Probio’Stick, Institut Rosell-Lallemand). Finally, Professor Collins went on to discuss how this could benefit human, based on the recent Probio’Stick clinical studies1,2 which showed that this probiotic blend is able to alleviate both physiological and psychological symptoms of stress and anxiety in volunteers.

Stephen Collins is Professor of Medicine and Chief of Gastroenterology, Associate Dean of Research, at McMaster University Medical Center, in Ontario, Canada. He is past president of the Canadian Association of Gastroenterology and has over 200 publications including papers in Nature Medicine, Lancet, JCI, Gastroenterology and Gut. His areas of interest include the impact of inflammation on gut function, neuron-immune interactions, and the role of commensal bacteria in health and disease.

1 Messaoudi M., Lalonde R., Violle N., Javelot H., Desor D, Nejdi A., Bisson J.-F., Rougeot C., Pichelin M., Cazaubiel M. And Cazaubiel J.-M.: Assessment of psychotropic-like properties of a probiotic formulation (Lactobacillus helveticus R0052 and Bifidobacterium longum R0175) in rats and humans. Br J Nutr. 2010 Oct 26:1-9.
2 Diop L., Guillou S., Durand H. : Probiotic food supplement reduces stress-induced gastrointestinal symptoms in volunteers: A double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized trial. Nutrition Research Volume 28, Issue 1, January 2008. Pages 1-5.