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Serotonin Transporter Genotype Modulates the Gut Microbiota Composition in Young Rats, an Effect Augmented by Early Life Stress

Overview of attention for article published in Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience, August 2017
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  • In the top 25% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age (90th percentile)
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age and source (95th percentile)

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1 news outlet
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22 X users
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129 Mendeley
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Title
Serotonin Transporter Genotype Modulates the Gut Microbiota Composition in Young Rats, an Effect Augmented by Early Life Stress
Published in
Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience, August 2017
DOI 10.3389/fncel.2017.00222
Pubmed ID
Authors

Sahar El Aidy, Anouschka S. Ramsteijn, Francisco Dini-Andreote, Roel van Eijk, Danielle J. Houwing, Joana F. Salles, Jocelien D. A. Olivier

Abstract

The neurotransmitter serotonin (5-HT) plays a vital regulatory role in both the brain and gut. 5-HT is crucial for regulating mood in the brain as well as gastrointestinal motility and secretion peripherally. Alterations in 5-HT transmission have been linked to pathological symptoms in both intestinal and psychiatric disorders and selective 5-HT transporter (5-HTT) inhibitors, affecting the 5-HT system by blocking the 5-HT transporter (5-HTT) have been successfully used to treat CNS- and intestinal disorders. Humans that carry the short allele of the 5-HTT-linked polymorphic region (5-HTTLPR) are more vulnerable to adverse environmental stressors, in particular early life stress. Although, early life stress has been shown to alter the composition of the gut microbiota, it is not known whether a lower 5-HTT expression is also associated with an altered microbiome composition. To investigate this, male and female wild type (5-HTT(+/+)), heterozygous (5-HTT(+/-)), and knockout (5-HTT(-/-)) 5-HT transporter rats were maternally separated for 6 h a day from postnatal day 2 till 15. On postnatal day 21, fecal samples were collected and the impact of 5-HTT genotype and maternal separation (MS) on the microbiome was analyzed using high-throughput sequencing of the bacterial 16S rRNA gene. MS showed a shift in the ratio between the two main bacterial phyla characterized by a decrease in Bacteroidetes and an increase in Firmicutes. Interestingly, the 5-HTT genotype caused a greater microbal dysbiosis (microbial imbalance) compared with MS. A significant difference in microbiota composition was found segregating 5-HTT(-/-) apart from 5-HTT(+/-) and 5-HTT(+/+) rats. Moreover, exposure of rats with 5-HTT diminished expression to MS swayed the balance of their microbiota away from homeostasis to 'inflammatory' type microbiota characterized by higher abundance of members of the gut microbiome including Desulfovibrio, Mucispirillum, and Fusobacterium, all of which are previously reported to be associated with a state of intestinal inflammation, including inflammation associated with MS and brain disorders like multiple depressive disorders. Overall, our data show for the first time that altered expression of 5-HTT induces disruptions in male and female rat gut microbes and these 5-HTT genotype-related disruptions are augmented when combined with early life stress.

X Demographics

X Demographics

The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 22 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 129 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
Unknown 129 100%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Researcher 22 17%
Student > Bachelor 21 16%
Student > Ph. D. Student 16 12%
Student > Master 15 12%
Other 6 5%
Other 14 11%
Unknown 35 27%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Neuroscience 20 16%
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology 19 15%
Agricultural and Biological Sciences 14 11%
Medicine and Dentistry 11 9%
Psychology 8 6%
Other 15 12%
Unknown 42 33%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 22. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 17 October 2022.
All research outputs
#1,730,388
of 25,874,560 outputs
Outputs from Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience
#195
of 4,760 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#32,697
of 331,546 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience
#5
of 109 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 25,874,560 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 93rd percentile: it's in the top 10% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 4,760 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a little more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 6.8. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 95% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 331,546 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 90% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 109 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 95% of its contemporaries.