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ABSTRACT
Aim: Effects of maternal probiotics administered during pregnancy as well as consumption by offspring in the post-weaning period on anxiety behavior were examined.
Methods: In addition to anxiety levels measured by EPM and OFT, the expression level of the hippocampal genes, and serum sex hormones in male and female mice that received foot shock stress were assayed in the pubertal period.
Results: The results of this study showed that consumption of probiotics in the foot shock-stressed offspring in both sexes could significantly increase the length of stay in the EPM open arm compared to the control group, however, the offspring of the probiotic-treated dam did not. Consumption of probiotics by the pro-off group caused remarkable high expression of the 5HT2AC receptor gene. In the pro-off group, consumption of probiotics led to a significant decrease in 5HT1 receptor expression. Expression of GABRA2 was increased in probiotics-treated groups, thus the pro-off and the pro-dam group had a significant difference from the control group. Feeding offspring with probiotics by significantly increased progesterone concentrations compared to the control group, and maternal consumption of probiotics during pregnancy and lactation had no reducing effect on progesterone concentrations. This is due to electric shock stress. The consumption of probiotics by mice during infancy was shown to compensate for the decrease in progesterone concentration in them. Maternal use of probiotics during pregnancy and lactation did not affect this concentration.
Conclusions: It is concluded that probiotics can protect against foot shock stress-induced anxiety, progesterone disturbance, and dysregulation of expression of some anxiety-related genes.
Acknowledgments
The authors wish to extend special thanks to Dr. Marie-Claude Audet for expert advice and Dr. Gloria Jeam Dempsy for assisting with the article's writing and editing.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 Provifed by Fara Daru Fanavar Mehr Company, Tehran, Iran.
Additional information
Funding
Notes on contributors
Ahmad Sarikhani
Mr Ahmad Sarikhani holds MSc degree in genetics. He works as a research assistant on projects about the effects of nutrition on mental disorders at the Applied Neuroscience Research Center, Islamic Azad University, Arak, Iran. He had experience working on the efficacy of Probiotics on gut microbiota since 7 years ago.
Shadi Vosoughi Zadeh
Ms Shadi Vosoughi Zadeh holds BSc in Biotechnology and currently has expertise in data analysis at the Applied neuroscience research center, Islamic Azad University, Arak, Iran
Saeed Tahmasebi
Dr. Saeed Tahmasebi holds Ph.D. in physiology. He worked on animal behaviors and epilepsy for about 15 years as the head of the laboratory at Islamic Azad University, Arak, Iran. Currently, he works on the efficacy of Probiotics strains in the alleviation of pain.
Bahareh Khalajabadi Farahani
Ms Bahareh Khalajabadi Farahani holds MSc in biochemistry from Isfahan Payame Noor University, Isfahan, Iran. She has experience working on ELISA and immunohistochemistry.
Maryam Heydari Nik
Ms Maryam Heydari Nik holds an MSc degree in Microbiology from Islamic Azad University, Arak, Iran. She worked on the isolation of Probiotics strains from native dairy products.
Hamid Reza Mohajerani
Dr. Hamid Reza Mohajerani holds a Ph.D. in physiology and worked on projects on neurofeedback, epilepsy and long-term potentiation. At the present, he works on the relationship between gut microbiota and learning & memory along with mental disorders like anxiety, and depression as the head of the Applied Neuroscience Research Center, Islamic Azad University, Arak, Iran.