Bacterial Metabolite May Regulate Cognition in Mice

A growing body of scientific literature indicates that the gut microbiota can affect the brain in
myriad ways. In this study, published June 1 in Cell Host & Microbe, blocking the metabolite
isoamylamine with oligonucleotides showed that It turns out that memory loss is restored.

Slavica Krantic, neuroinflammation researcher at the St. Antoine Research Center, Sorbonne
University, Paris, writing an email to the scientists involved in the study. "Perhaps most
excitingly, this paper provides a proof-of-concept for an oligonucleotide-based therapy for
cognitive impairment. This study shows that these bacteria, and therefore IAA, become more
prevalent with age in the gut of both healthy humans and mice. We show that the addition of
IAA to cells promotes the production of so-called apoptotic bodies, suggesting that IAA causes
cell death.