Speaker
Description
Among the myriad captivating relationships forged by the gut microbiota (GM) within the human body, one of the most intriguing and intricate is the connection between the gut and the brain. This pathway has garnered increasing interest in recent years as a potential mechanism involved in the complex interplay of processes related to neurodevelopment, especially in critical periods as the ‘first 1000 days of life’, when neuronal plasticity is heightened (rendering being exceptionally susceptible to any form of stimulation) and blood-brain barrier and intestinal tight junctions are still developing and more permeable. Neurodevelopmental models are primarily animal-based or epidemiological studies, but the recent advancement of organoid technology has opened up incredible possibilities for research in this field.
The aim of this PhD project is to deepen the study of the role of metabolites derived from the gut microbiota on neurodevelopment. The study consists of two main parts: i) a prospective observational study will be conducted using faecal samples from children at risk for neurodevelopmental disorders (preterm) and control children (full-term), from birth up to 2 years of age. The goal is to correlate microbiota composition with neurodevelopmental outcomes (assessed over a 2-year period) and inflammatory markers; ii) brain organoids will be generated and co-cultured with metabolites derived from in vitro fermentation inoculated with the infant faecal samples, to investigate the effect of the microbiota metabolites on the neurodevelopment, using the organoid model.
The project has started with contacting hospital institutions and preparing the necessary documentation for ethics committee approval for sample collection. The immediate activity will be to proceed with in vitro fermentation of fecal samples and treatment of cell cultures (2D and 3D neural cultures derived from hPSCs) with fermentation fluids and selected bacterial metabolites.
| Author(s) | Lucia Occhigrossi (1), Maria Magdalena Coman (2), Maria Cristina Verdenelli (2) , Stefania Silvi (1) |
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| Affiliation(s) | "(1) School of Biosciences and Veterinary Medicine, University of Camerino, Camerino, Italy. (2) SYNBIOTEC Srl, Camerino, Italy." |
