A study in mice has found that transplanting gut microbes from young animals into older ones can restore youthful levels of brain plasticity. The research points to potential new ways of treating conditions that are normally only reversible in childhood.
Researchers led by Paola Tognini at the Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies in Pisa gave adult mice faecal microbiota from donors aged around 30 days. Only those receiving the young microbes showed renewed neuroplasticity when one eye was temporarily sealed, a standard test of the brain’s ability to rewire itself.
The team first demonstrated that disrupting the microbiome with antibiotics in young mice reduced plasticity and altered more than 1,000 genes linked to myelination and blood-brain barrier function. Transplanting young microbiota reversed similar deficits in adults.
Independent experts said the findings suggest the gut microbiome helps set the timing of critical developmental windows, though direct application to humans remains uncertain due to differences in brain complexity and lifestyle influences.
