INFANT Research Centre

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https://hdl.handle.net/10468/4183

INFANT A research centre focused entirely on pregnancy, birth and early childhood. Hosted at University College Cork (UCC), Cork, Ireland, The Irish Centre for Maternal and Child Health Research has local impact with a global reach. INFANT is answering the international need for research and innovation to improve health outcomes for mothers and babies. Across pregnancy, birth, infancy and childhood, INFANT is solving challenges through its key research themes

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Browsing INFANT Research Centre by Author "Allen, Andrew P."

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    Bifidobacterium longum 1714 as a translational psychobiotic: modulation of stress, electrophysiology and neurocognition in healthy volunteers
    (Nature Publishing Group, 2016-11-01) Allen, Andrew P.; Hutch, William; Borre, Yuliya E.; Kennedy, Paul J.; Temko, Andriy; Boylan, Geraldine B.; Murphy, Eileen F.; Cryan, John F.; Dinan, Timothy G.
    The emerging concept of psychobiotics—live microorganisms with a potential mental health benefit—represents a novel approach for the management of stress-related conditions. The majority of studies have focused on animal models. Recent preclinical studies have identified the B. longum 1714 strain as a putative psychobiotic with an impact on stress-related behaviors, physiology and cognitive performance. Whether such preclinical effects could be translated to healthy human volunteers remains unknown. We tested whether psychobiotic consumption could affect the stress response, cognition and brain activity patterns. In a within-participants design, healthy volunteers (N=22) completed cognitive assessments, resting electroencephalography and were exposed to a socially evaluated cold pressor test at baseline, post-placebo and post-psychobiotic. Increases in cortisol output and subjective anxiety in response to the socially evaluated cold pressor test were attenuated. Furthermore, daily reported stress was reduced by psychobiotic consumption. We also observed subtle improvements in hippocampus-dependent visuospatial memory performance, as well as enhanced frontal midline electroencephalographic mobility following psychobiotic consumption. These subtle but clear benefits are in line with the predicted impact from preclinical screening platforms. Our results indicate that consumption of B. longum 1714 is associated with reduced stress and improved memory. Further studies are warranted to evaluate the benefits of this putative psychobiotic in relevant stress-related conditions and to unravel the mechanisms underlying such effects.
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    Lost in translation? The potential psychobiotic Lactobacillus rhamnosus (JB-1) fails to modulate stress or cognitive performance in healthy male subjects
    (Elsevier, 2016-11-16) Kelly, John R.; Allen, Andrew P.; Temko, Andriy; Hutch, William; Kennedy, Paul J.; Farid, Niloufar; Murphy, Eileen F.; Boylan, Geraldine B.; Bienenstock, John; Cryan, John F.; Clarke, Gerard; Dinan, Timothy G.; Science Foundation Ireland; Health Research Board; European Commission; Seventh Framework Programme; Brain and Behaviour Research Foundation, United States
    Background: Preclinical studies have identified certain probiotics as psychobiotics a live microorganisms with a potential mental health benefit. Lactobacillus rhamnosus (JB-1) has been shown to reduce stress-related behaviour, corticosterone release and alter central expression of GABA receptors in an anxious mouse strain. However, it is unclear if this single putative psychobiotic strain has psychotropic activity in humans. Consequently, we aimed to examine if these promising preclinical findings could be translated to healthy human volunteers. Objectives: To determine the impact of L. rhamnosus on stress-related behaviours, physiology, inflammatory response, cognitive performance and brain activity patterns in healthy male participants. An 8 week, randomized, placebo-controlled, cross-over design was employed. Twenty-nine healthy male volunteers participated. Participants completed self-report stress measures, cognitive assessments and resting electroencephalography (EEG). Plasma IL10, IL1β, IL6, IL8 and TNFα levels and whole blood Toll-like 4 (TLR-4) agonist-induced cytokine release were determined by multiplex ELISA. Salivary cortisol was determined by ELISA and subjective stress measures were assessed before, during and after a socially evaluated cold pressor test (SECPT). Results: There was no overall effect of probiotic treatment on measures of mood, anxiety, stress or sleep quality and no significant effect of probiotic over placebo on subjective stress measures, or the HPA response to the SECPT. Visuospatial memory performance, attention switching, rapid visual information processing, emotion recognition and associated EEG measures did not show improvement over placebo. No significant anti-inflammatory effects were seen as assessed by basal and stimulated cytokine levels. Conclusions: L. rhamnosus was not superior to placebo in modifying stress-related measures, HPA response, inflammation or cognitive performance in healthy male participants. These findings highlight the challenges associated with moving promising preclinical studies, conducted in an anxious mouse strain, to healthy human participants. Future interventional studies investigating the effect of this psychobiotic in populations with stress-related disorders are required.