The effects of autologous fecal microbiota transplantation on fear memory and anxiety abnormalities induced by single prolonged stress – Implication of gut-brain axis regulation

Jul 20, 2025Brain research bulletin

How Transplanting a Person’s Own Gut Bacteria May Reduce Stress-Related Fear and Anxiety by Influencing the Gut-Brain Connection

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Abstract

Autologous fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) significantly improved fear extinction retention deficits in a post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) rat model.

Autologous FMT was associated with reduced anxiety linked to conditioned fear but did not affect unconditioned anxiety.
Improvements in fear extinction retention were correlated with restored serotonin levels in key brain regions.
FMT reversed plasma corticosterone reductions caused by stress exposure.
Fecal microbiota analysis showed significant changes in microbial populations, including decreased Prevotellaceae and increased Intestinimonas after FMT.
Certain gut microbiota taxa were significantly correlated with deficits in fear extinction retention.

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Increasing evidence suggests that alterations in the gut microbiota play a crucial role in the pathophysiology of psychiatric disorders, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This implies that restoring gut microbiota might serve as a therapeutic strategy, with autologous fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) being the most promising treatment due to its effectiveness and fewer pharmacological side effects. However, the hypothesis that adjusting gut microbiota may help to restore the impairment of fear memory is still less examined. To evaluate this hypothesis, we employed single prolonged stress (SPS) rat model to examine the impact of autologous FMT on PTSD-related fear memory extinction retention deficits and increased anxiety, and to investigate changes in the levels of gut microbiota, central monoamines, and plasma corticosterone. The correlations between gut microbiota and central serotonin (5-HT) with fear extinction retention deficits and anxiety were analyzed. Note that littermates were used in the gut microbiota analysis to minimize individual differences. Our results demonstrated that autologous FMT significantly ameliorated SPS-induced deficits in fear extinction retention and conditioned anxiety but did not mitigate unconditioned anxiety. These improvements were significantly correlated with the restoration of 5-HT levels in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), dorsal hippocampus (dHPC), and hypothalamus (HT). Autologous FMT also reversed SPS-induced reductions in plasma corticosterone level. Additionally, fecal microbiota analysis revealed significant changes at the genus level, with the relative abundance of the Prevotellaceae Ga6A1 group reduced after SPS, and Intestinimonas increased by FMT, as well as some taxa significantly correlated with fear extinction retention deficits. This study suggests that autologous FMT offers potential as a novel therapeutic strategy for PTSD.

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The effects of autologous fecal microbiota transplantation on fear memory and anxiety abnormalities induced by single prolonged stress – Implication of gut-brain axis regulation

Abstract

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