Stress-sensitive neural circuits change the gut microbiome via duodenal glands.

Negative psychological states impact immunity by altering the gut microbiome. However, the relationship between brain states and microbiome composition remains unclear. We show that Brunner's glands in the duodenum couple stress-sensitive brain circuits to bacterial homeostasis. Brunner's glands mediated the enrichment of gut Lactobacillus species in response to vagus nerve stimulation. Cell-specific ablation of the glands markedly suppressed Lactobacilli counts and heightened vulnerability to infection. In the forebrain, we mapped a vagally mediated, polysynaptic circuit connecting the central nucleus of the amygdala to Brunner's glands. Chronic stress suppressed central amygdala activity and phenocopied the effects of gland lesions. Conversely, excitation of either the central amygdala or parasympathetic vagal neurons activated Brunner's glands and reversed the effects of stress on the gut microbiome and immunity. The findings revealed a tractable brain-body mechanism linking psychological states to host defense.

An inter-organ neural circuit for appetite suppression.

Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) is a signal peptide released from enteroendocrine cells of the lower intestine. GLP-1 exerts anorectic and antimotility actions that protect the body against nutrient malabsorption. However, little is known about how intestinal GLP-1 affects distant organs despite rapid enzymatic inactivation. We show that intestinal GLP-1 inhibits gastric emptying and eating via intestinofugal neurons, a subclass of myenteric neurons that project to abdominal sympathetic ganglia. Remarkably, cell-specific ablation of intestinofugal neurons eliminated intestinal GLP-1 effects, and their chemical activation functioned as a GLP-1 mimetic. GLP-1 sensing by intestinofugal neurons then engaged a sympatho-gastro-spinal-reticular-hypothalamic pathway that links abnormal stomach distension to craniofacial programs for food rejection. Within this pathway, cell-specific activation of discrete neuronal populations caused systemic GLP-1-like effects. These molecularly identified, delimited enteric circuits may be targeted to ameliorate the abdominal bloating and loss of appetite typical of gastric motility disorders.

A Neural Circuit for Gut-Induced Reward.

The gut is now recognized as a major regulator of motivational and emotional states. However, the relevant gut-brain neuronal circuitry remains unknown. We show that optical activation of gut-innervating vagal sensory neurons recapitulates the hallmark effects of stimulating brain reward neurons. Specifically, right, but not left, vagal sensory ganglion activation sustained self-stimulation behavior, conditioned both flavor and place preferences, and induced dopamine release from Substantia nigra. Cell-specific transneuronal tracing revealed asymmetric ascending pathways of vagal origin throughout the CNS. In particular, transneuronal labeling identified the glutamatergic neurons of the dorsolateral parabrachial region as the obligatory relay linking the right vagal sensory ganglion to dopamine cells in Substantia nigra. Consistently, optical activation of parabrachio-nigral projections replicated the rewarding effects of right vagus excitation. Our findings establish the vagal gut-to-brain axis as an integral component of the neuronal reward pathway. They also suggest novel vagal stimulation approaches to affective disorders.

Integrated Control of Predatory Hunting by the Central Nucleus of the Amygdala.

Superior predatory skills led to the evolutionary triumph of jawed vertebrates. However, the mechanisms by which the vertebrate brain controls predation remain largely unknown. Here, we reveal a critical role for the central nucleus of the amygdala in predatory hunting. Both optogenetic and chemogenetic stimulation of central amygdala of mice elicited predatory-like attacks upon both insect and artificial prey. Coordinated control of cervical and mandibular musculatures, which is necessary for accurately positioning lethal bites on prey, was mediated by a central amygdala projection to the reticular formation in the brainstem. In contrast, prey pursuit was mediated by projections to the midbrain periaqueductal gray matter. Targeted lesions to these two pathways separately disrupted biting attacks upon prey versus the initiation of prey pursuit. Our findings delineate a neural network that integrates distinct behavioral modules and suggest that central amygdala neurons instruct predatory hunting across jawed vertebrates.

Author Correction: Microbiota modulate sympathetic neurons via a gut-brain circuit.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

Microbiota modulate sympathetic neurons via a gut-brain circuit.

Connections between the gut and brain monitor the intestinal tissue and its microbial and dietary content1, regulating both physiological intestinal functions such as nutrient absorption and motility2,3, and brain-wired feeding behaviour2. It is therefore plausible that circuits exist to detect gut microorganisms and relay this information to areas of the central nervous system that, in turn, regulate gut physiology4. Here we characterize the influence of the microbiota on enteric-associated neurons by combining gnotobiotic mouse models with transcriptomics, circuit-tracing methods and functional manipulations. We find that the gut microbiome modulates gut-extrinsic sympathetic neurons: microbiota depletion leads to increased expression of the neuronal transcription factor cFos, and colonization of germ-free mice with bacteria that produce short-chain fatty acids suppresses cFos expression in the gut sympathetic ganglia. Chemogenetic manipulations, translational profiling and anterograde tracing identify a subset of distal intestine-projecting vagal neurons that are positioned to have an afferent role in microbiota-mediated modulation of gut sympathetic neurons. Retrograde polysynaptic neuronal tracing from the intestinal wall identifies brainstem sensory nuclei that are activated during microbial depletion, as well as efferent sympathetic premotor glutamatergic neurons that regulate gastrointestinal transit. These results reveal microbiota-dependent control of gut-extrinsic sympathetic activation through a gut-brain circuit.

Identification of central amygdala and trigeminal motor nucleus connectivity in humans: An ultra-high field diffusion MRI study.

The neuroanatomical circuitry of jaw muscles has been mostly explored in non-human animals. A recent rodent study revealed a novel circuit from the central amygdala (CeA) to the trigeminal motor nucleus (5M), which controls biting attacks. This circuit has yet to be delineated in humans. Ultra-high diffusion-weighted imaging data from the Human Connectome Project (HCP) allow in vivo delineation of circuits identified in other species-for example, the CeA-5M pathway-in humans. We hypothesized that the CeA-5M circuit could be resolved in humans at both 7 and 3 T. We performed probabilistic tractography between the CeA and 5M in 30 healthy young adults from the HCP database. As a negative control, we performed tractography between the basolateral amygdala (BLAT) and 5M, as CeA is the only amygdalar nucleus with extensive projections to the brainstem. Connectivity strength was operationalized as the number of streamlines between each region of interest. Connectivity strength between CeA-5M and BLAT-5M within each hemisphere was compared, and CeA-5M circuit had significantly stronger connectivity than the BLAT-5M circuit, bilaterally at both 7 T (all p < .001) and 3 T (all p < .001). This study is the first to delineate the CeA-5M circuit in humans.

Safety and efficacy of convalescent plasma for severe COVID-19: a randomized, single blinded, parallel, controlled clinical study.

BACKGROUND: Convalescent plasma (CP) has been widely used to treat COVID-19 and is under study. However, the variability in the current clinical trials has averted its wide use in the current pandemic. We aimed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of CP in severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the early stages of the disease. METHODS: A randomized controlled clinical study was conducted on 101 patients admitted to the hospital with confirmed severe COVID-19. Most participants had less than 14 days from symptoms onset and less than seven days from hospitalization. Fifty patients were assigned to receive CP plus standard therapy (ST), and 51 were assigned to receive ST alone. Participants in the CP arm received two doses of 250 mL each, transfused 24 h apart. All transfused plasma was obtained from "super donors" that fulfilled the following criteria: titers of anti-SARS-CoV-2 S1 IgG ≥ 1:3200 and IgA ≥ 1:800 antibodies. The effect of transfused anti-IFN antibodies and the SARS-CoV-2 variants at the entry of the study on the overall CP efficacy was evaluated. The primary outcomes were the reduction in viral load and the increase in IgG and IgA antibodies at 28 days of follow-up. The per-protocol analysis included 91 patients. RESULTS: An early but transient increase in IgG anti-S1-SARS-CoV-2 antibody levels at day 4 post-transfusion was observed (Estimated difference [ED], - 1.36; 95% CI, - 2.33 to - 0.39; P = 0.04). However, CP was not associated with viral load reduction in any of the points evaluated. Analysis of secondary outcomes revealed that those patients in the CP arm disclosed a shorter time to discharge (ED adjusted for mortality, 3.1 days; 95% CI, 0.20 to 5.94; P = 0.0361) or a reduction of 2 points on the WHO scale when compared with the ST group (HR adjusted for mortality, 1.6; 95% CI, 1.03 to 2.5; P = 0.0376). There were no benefits from CP on the rates of intensive care unit admission (HR, 0.82; 95% CI, 0.35 to 1.9; P = 0.6399), mechanical ventilation (HR, 0.66; 95% CI, 0.25 to 1.7; P = 0.4039), or mortality (HR, 3.2; 95% CI, 0.64 to 16; P = 0.1584). Anti-IFN antibodies and SARS-CoV-2 variants did not influence these results. CONCLUSION: CP was not associated with viral load reduction, despite the early increase in IgG anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies. However, CP is safe and could be a therapeutic option to reduce the hospital length of stay. Trial registration NCT04332835.

Rethinking Food Reward.

The conscious perception of the hedonic sensory properties of caloric foods is commonly believed to guide our dietary choices. Current and traditional models implicate the consciously perceived hedonic qualities of food as driving overeating, whereas subliminal signals arising from the gut would curb our uncontrolled desire for calories. Here we review recent animal and human studies that support a markedly different model for food reward. These findings reveal in particular the existence of subcortical body-to-brain neural pathways linking gastrointestinal nutrient sensors to the brain's reward regions. Unexpectedly, consciously perceptible hedonic qualities appear to play a less relevant, and mostly transient, role in food reinforcement. In this model, gut-brain reward pathways bypass cranial taste and aroma sensory receptors and the cortical networks that give rise to flavor perception. They instead reinforce behaviors independently of the cognitive processes that support overt insights into the nature of our dietary decisions.

On the roles of the Duodenum and the Vagus nerve in learned nutrient preferences.

BACKGROUND AND AIM: In most species, including humans, food preference is primarily controlled by nutrient value. However, the gut-brain pathways involved in preference learning remain elusive. The aim of the present study, performed in C57BL6/J mice, was to characterize the roles in nutrient preference of two critical elements of gut-brain pathways, i.e. the duodenum and vagal gut innervation. METHODS: Adult wild-type C57BL6/J mice from a normal-weight cohort sustained one of the following three procedures: duodenal-jejunal bypass intestinal rerouting (DJB), total subdiaphragmatic vagotomy (SDV), or sham surgery. Mice were assessed in short-term two-bottle preference tests before and after 24 h s exposures to solutions containing one of glutamate, lipids, sodium, or glucose. RESULTS: DJB and SDV interfered in preference formation in a nutrient-specific manner: whereas normal preference learning for lipids and glutamate was disrupted by both DJB and SDV, these interventions did not alter the formation of preferences for glucose. Interestingly, sodium preferences were abrogated by DJB but not by SDV. CONCLUSIONS: Different macronutrients make use of distinct gut-brain pathways to influence food preferences, thereby mirroring nutrient-specific processes of food digestion. Specifically, whereas both vagal innervation and duodenal sensing appear critical for generating responses to fats and protein, glucose preferences recruit post-duodenal, vagal-independent pathways in pair with the control of glucose homeostasis. Overall, our data suggest that the physiological processes involved in digesting and absorbing fats, amino acids, and glucose overlap with those mediating learned preferences for each of these nutrients.

Basolateral amygdala response to food cues in the absence of hunger is associated with weight gain susceptibility.

In rodents, food-predictive cues elicit eating in the absence of hunger (Weingarten, 1983). This behavior is disrupted by the disconnection of amygdala pathways to the lateral hypothalamus (Petrovich et al., 2002). Whether this circuit contributes to long-term weight gain is unknown. Using fMRI in 32 healthy individuals, we demonstrate here that the amygdala response to the taste of a milkshake when sated but not hungry positively predicts weight change. This effect is independent of sex, initial BMI, and total circulating ghrelin levels, but it is only present in individuals who do not carry a copy of the A1 allele of the Taq1A polymorphism. In contrast, A1 allele carriers, who have decreased D2 receptor density (Blum et al., 1996), show a positive association between caudate response and weight change. Regardless of genotype, however, dynamic causal modeling supports unidirectional gustatory input from basolateral amygdala (BLA) to hypothalamus in sated subjects. This finding suggests that, as in rodents, external cues gain access to the homeostatic control circuits of the human hypothalamus via the amygdala. In contrast, during hunger, gustatory inputs enter the hypothalamus and drive bidirectional connectivity with the amygdala. These findings implicate the BLA-hypothalamic circuit in long-term weight change related to nonhomeostatic eating and provide compelling evidence that distinct brain mechanisms confer susceptibility to weight gain depending upon individual differences in dopamine signaling.

Weighing the evidence: Variance in brain responses to milkshake receipt is predictive of eating behavior.

Variations in brain responses to sensory stimuli are typically considered to lack information content and treated as "noise". Alternatively, variable response patterns may reflect the adjustment of biological parameters to external factors. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging in healthy non-dieting individuals to test whether intra-individual variation in brain response to the receipt of milkshake is associated with a range of behavioral and metabolic parameters. We found that, following a meal, high variability in nucleus accumbens (NAcc) response to milkshake is associated with higher body mass index, greater dietary disinhibition, more variable ad libitum food consumption, faster increases in plasma insulin, faster decreases in plasma glucose, and greater weight loss over 1year. Our results thus uncover a series of physiological parameters encrypted as variable responses in NAcc to food stimuli. They also suggest that variations in striatal activity regulate the activation of behavioral and metabolic responses to food availability.

Sensing of triacylglycerol in the gut: different mechanisms for fatty acids and 2-monoacylglycerol.

Sensing of dietary triacylglycerol in the proximal small intestine results in physiological, hormonal and behavioural responses. However, the exact physiological pathways linking intestinal fat sensing to food intake and the activation of brain circuits remain to be identified. In this study we examined the role of triacylglycerol digestion for intestinal fat sensing, and compared the effects of the triacylglycerol digestion products, fatty acids and 2-monoacylglycerol, on behavioural, hormonal and dopaminergic responses in behaving mice. Using an operant task in which mice are trained to self-administer lipid emulsions directly into the stomach, we show that inhibiting triacylglycerol digestion disrupts normal behaviour of self-administration in mice, indicating that fat sensing is conditional to digestion. When administered separately, both digestion products, 2-monoacylglycerol and fatty acids, were sensed by the mice, and self-administration patterns of fatty acids were affected by the fatty acid chain length. Peripheral plasma concentrations of the gut hormones GLP-1, GIP, PYY, CCK and insulin did not offer an explanation of the differing behavioural effects produced by 2-monoacylglycerol and fatty acids. However, combined with behavioural responses, striatal dopamine effluxes induced by gut infusions of oleic acid were significantly greater than those produced by equivalent infusions of 2-oleoylglycerol. Our data demonstrate recruitment of different signalling pathways by fatty acids and 2-monoacylglycerol, and suggest that the structural properties of fat rather than total caloric value determine intestinal sensing and the assignment of reward value to lipids.

An Amygdalar-Vagal-Glandular Circuit Controls the Intestinal Microbiome.

Psychological states can regulate intestinal mucosal immunity by altering the gut microbiome. However, the link between the brain and microbiome composition remains elusive. We show that Brunner's glands in the duodenal submucosa couple brain activity to intestinal bacterial homeostasis. Brunner's glands mediated the enrichment of gut probiotic species in response to stimulation of abdominal vagal fibers. Cell-specific ablation of the glands triggered transmissible dysbiosis associated with an immunodeficiency syndrome that led to mortality upon gut infection with pathogens. The syndrome could be largely prevented by oral or intra-intestinal administration of probiotics. In the forebrain, we identified a vagally-mediated, polysynaptic circuit connecting the glands of Brunner to the central nucleus of the amygdala. Intra-vital imaging revealed that excitation of central amygdala neurons activated Brunner's glands and promoted the growth of probiotic populations. Our findings unveil a vagal-glandular neuroimmune circuitry that may be targeted for the modulation of the gut microbiome. The glands of Brunner may be the critical cells that regulate the levels of Lactobacilli species in the intestine.

Glucose utilization rates regulate intake levels of artificial sweeteners.

It is well established that animals including humans attribute greater reinforcing value to glucose-containing sugars compared to their non-caloric counterparts, generally termed 'artificial sweeteners'. However, much remains to be determined regarding the physiological signals and brain systems mediating the attribution of greater reinforcing value to sweet solutions that contain glucose. Here we show that disruption of glucose utilization in mice produces an enduring inhibitory effect on artificial sweetener intake, an effect that did not depend on sweetness perception or aversion. Indeed, such an effect was not observed in mice presented with a less palatable, yet caloric, glucose solution. Consistently, hungry mice shifted their preferences away from artificial sweeteners and in favour of glucose after experiencing glucose in a hungry state. Glucose intake was found to produce significantly greater levels of dopamine efflux compared to artificial sweetener in dorsal striatum, whereas disrupting glucose oxidation suppressed dorsal striatum dopamine efflux. Conversely, inhibiting striatal dopamine receptor signalling during glucose intake in sweet-naïve animals resulted in reduced, artificial sweetener-like intake of glucose during subsequent gluco-deprivation. Our results demonstrate that glucose oxidation controls intake levels of sweet tastants by modulating extracellular dopamine levels in dorsal striatum, and suggest that glucose utilization is one critical physiological signal involved in the control of goal-directed sweetener intake.

Enantiomer-specific selection of amino acids.

Dietary intake of L-amino acids impacts on several physiological functions, including the control of gastrointestinal motility, pancreatic secretion, and appetite. However, the biological mechanisms regulating behavioral predilections for certain amino acid types remain poorly understood. We tested the hypothesis that, in mice, the potency with which a given glucogenic amino acid increases glucose utilization reflects its rewarding properties. We have found that: (1) during long-, but not short-, term preference tests, L-alanine and L-serine were preferred over their D-enantiomer counterparts, while no such effect was observed for L-threonine vs. D-threonine; (2) these behavioral patterns were closely associated with the ability of L-amino acids to promote increases in respiratory exchange ratios such that those, and only those, L-amino acids able to promote increases in respiratory exchange ratios were preferred over their D-isomers; (3) these behavioral preferences were independent of gustatory influences, since taste-deficient Trpm5 knockout mice displayed ingestive responses very similar to those of their wild-type counterparts. We conclude that the ability to promote increases in respiratory exchange ratios enhances the reward value of nutritionally relevant amino acids and suggest a mechanistic link between substrate utilization and amino acid preferences.

D1 and D2 neurons in the nucleus accumbens enable positive and negative control over sugar intake in mice.

Although the consumption of carbohydrates is needed for survival, their potent reinforcing properties drive obesity worldwide. In turn, sugar overconsumption reveals a major role for brain reward systems in regulating sugar intake. However, it remains elusive how different cell types within the reward circuitries control the initiation and termination of sugary meals. Here, we identified the distinct nucleus accumbens cell types that mediate the chemosensory versus postprandial properties of sweet sugars. Specifically, D1 neurons enhance sugar intake via specialized connections to taste ganglia, whereas D2 neurons mediate the termination of sugary meals via anatomical connections to circuits involved in appetite suppression. Consistently, D2, but not D1, neurons partially mediate the satiating effects of glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) agonists. Thus, these nucleus accumbens cell types function as a behavioral switch, enabling positive versus negative control over sugar intake. Our study contributes to unveiling the cellular and circuit substrates of sugar overconsumption.

The Neurobiology of Eating Behavior in Obesity: Mechanisms and Therapeutic Targets: A Report from the 23rd Annual Harvard Nutrition Obesity Symposium.

Obesity is increasing at an alarming rate. The effectiveness of currently available strategies for the treatment of obesity (including pharmacologic, surgical, and behavioral interventions) is limited. Understanding the neurobiology of appetite and the important drivers of energy intake (EI) can lead to the development of more effective strategies for the prevention and treatment of obesity. Appetite regulation is complex and is influenced by genetic, social, and environmental factors. It is intricately regulated by a complex interplay of endocrine, gastrointestinal, and neural systems. Hormonal and neural signals generated in response to the energy state of the organism and the quality of food eaten are communicated by paracrine, endocrine, and gastrointestinal signals to the nervous system. The central nervous system integrates homeostatic and hedonic signals to regulate appetite. Although there has been an enormous amount of research over many decades regarding the regulation of EI and body weight, research is only now yielding potentially effective treatment strategies for obesity. The purpose of this article is to summarize the key findings presented in June 2022 at the 23rd annual Harvard Nutrition Obesity Symposium entitled "The Neurobiology of Eating Behavior in Obesity: Mechanisms and Therapeutic Targets." Findings presented at the symposium, sponsored by NIH P30 Nutrition Obesity Research Center at Harvard, enhance our current understanding of appetite biology, including innovative techniques used to assess and systematically manipulate critical hedonic processes, which will shape future research and the development of therapeutics for obesity prevention and treatment.

Stress-activated brain-gut circuits disrupt intestinal barrier integrity and social behaviour.

Chronic stress underlies the etiology of both major depressive disorder (MDD) and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), two highly prevalent and debilitating conditions with high rates of co-morbidity. However, it is not fully understood how the brain and gut bi-directionally communicate during stress to impact intestinal homeostasis and stress-relevant behaviours. Using the chronic social defeat stress (CSDS) model, we find that stressed mice display greater intestinal permeability and circulating levels of the endotoxin lipopolysaccharide (LPS) compared to unstressed control (CON) mice. Interestingly, the microbiota in the colon also exhibit elevated LPS biosynthesis gene expression following CSDS. Additionally, CSDS triggers an increase in pro-inflammatory colonic IFNγ+ Th1 cells and a decrease in IL4+ Th2 cells compared to CON mice, and this gut inflammation contributes to stress-induced intestinal barrier permeability and social avoidance behaviour. We next investigated the role of enteric neurons and identified that noradrenergic dopamine beta-hydroxylase (DBH)+ neurons in the colon are activated by CSDS, and that their ablation protects against gut pathophysiology and disturbances in social behaviour. Retrograde tracing from the colon identified a population of corticotropin-releasing hormone-expressing (CRH+) neurons in the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus (PVH) that innervate the colon and are activated by stress. Chemogenetically activating these PVH CRH+ neurons is sufficient to induce gut inflammation, barrier permeability, and social avoidance behaviour, while inhibiting these cells prevents these effects following exposure to CSDS. Thus, we define a stress-activated brain-to-gut circuit that confers colonic inflammation, leading to impaired intestinal barrier function, and consequent behavioural deficits.