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March 11, 2026<\/p>\n
3 min read<\/p>\n
Add Us On Google<\/span>Add SciAm<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n The gut microbiome may influence brain aging, mouse study suggests<\/p>\n A communication pathway between the brain and the gut may be integral to how well the brain holds on to memories<\/p>\n By Jackie Flynn Mogensen edited by Claire Cameron<\/span><\/p>\n A conceptual illustration of the gut microbiome.<\/p>\n THOM LEACH\/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY\/Getty Images<\/p>\n Age changes the brain, but why some people remain mentally sharp well into their dotage while others don\u2019t is a bit of a mystery. Part of the answer may have to do with genetics, but now a new study in mice suggests it could also have something to do with our gut.<\/p>\n In a series of experiments, researchers found that a communication pathway between the brain and the gut may be integral to how well the brain holds on to memories.<\/p>\n The genesis for the study came from a chance observation: young, two-month-old lab mice housed with older, 18-month-old mice showed \u201creally impaired cognition,\u201d says Timothy Cox, the study\u2019s lead author and a graduate student at the University of Pennsylvania. He and his colleagues suspected gut bacteria might be involved.<\/p>\n If you’re enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.<\/p>\n In the study, researchers exposed young mice raised in a sterile, microbe-free environment to gut bacteria from old mice, causing the younger animals to perform worse on cognitive tests, as if they had prematurely aged, just like the cohoused mice. When young mice that were housed with older mice were given antibiotics, however, the effect was erased. And older, microbe-free mice still had good memory skills. Taken together, the results suggest that bacteria in the older mice\u2019s gut made young mice perform like they had an old brain.<\/p>\n By sequencing the bacteria found in older mice\u2019s feces, the researchers identified a culprit\u2014a species of bacteria called Parabacteroides goldsteinii.<\/p>\n When the researchers exposed young mice that were raised in a sterile environment or treated with antibiotics to P. goldsteinii, the mice again performed worse in cognitive tests. P. goldsteinii, Cox explains, can trigger inflammation in mice, which could hinder the vagus nerve\u2014the communication highway that conveys signals between the gut and the brain. Stimulating the vagus nerve also improved the mice\u2019s cognitive performance. The findings were published on Wednesday in the journal Nature.<\/p>\n The findings build on previous research showing that the microbiomes of younger mice can \u201crejuvenate\u201d the brain in older mice, says John Cryan, a professor of anatomy at University College Cork in Ireland, who was not involved in the new study. Multiple studies over the past decade have shown that \u201cthe microbiota-gut-brain axis\u201d can influence brain function. \u201cWhat this study adds is a much clearer mechanistic pathway,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n Importantly, the study was conducted in mice, and its findings are not easily applicable to humans. The researchers emphasize that the results don\u2019t indicate that young people who live with older adult humans might experience cognitive issues. For one, the human gut microbiome is complex in its own way. And for another, mice eat each one another\u2019s feces. \u201cI suspect that most people are not doing that,\u201d Cox says.<\/p>\n But the results could one day lead to future therapies for memory issues and cognitive decline in people. P. goldsteinii is \u201ccertainly a member of the human microbiome,\u201d says Christoph Thaiss, an assistant professor of pathology at Stanford University and a senior author of the paper. But whether it affects cognitive decline in humans is unclear.<\/p>\n Vagus nerve stimulation, meanwhile, is an already approved procedure for various brain conditions, including stroke and epilepsy.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s definitely not impossible to imagine a future where people stimulate their vagus nerve to counteract cognitive decline,\u201d Thaiss says. \u201cBut we would need larger studies and clinical trials in order to figure this out.\u201d<\/p>\n If you enjoyed this article, I\u2019d like to ask for your support. 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I hope it does that for you, too.<\/p>\n If you subscribe to Scientific American<\/span>, you help ensure that our coverage is centered on meaningful research and discovery; that we have the resources to report on the decisions that threaten labs across the U.S.; and that we support both budding and working scientists at a time when the value of science itself too often goes unrecognized.<\/p>\n In return, you get essential news, captivating podcasts, brilliant infographics, can’t-miss newsletters, must-watch videos, challenging games, and the science world’s best writing and reporting. You can even gift someone a subscription.<\/p>\n There has never been a more important time for us to stand up and show why science matters. I hope you\u2019ll support us in that mission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" March 11, 2026 3 min read Add Us On GoogleAdd SciAm The gut microbiome may influence brain aging, mouse study suggests A communication pathway between the brain and the gut may be integral to how well the brain holds on to memories By Jackie Flynn Mogensen edited by Claire Cameron A conceptual illustration of the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":46470,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[4191,2121,2761,2170,16554,6083,188,3415],"class_list":{"0":"post-46469","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-aging","9":"tag-brain","10":"tag-gut","11":"tag-influence","12":"tag-microbiome","13":"tag-mouse","14":"tag-study","15":"tag-suggests"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46469","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=46469"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46469\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/46470"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=46469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=46469"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=46469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}On supporting science journalism<\/h2>\n
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