Young-donor FMT restores monocular deprivation plasticity in 4-month-old mice visual cortex
A single FMT from juvenile to adult mice re-enabled experience-dependent plasticity in visual cortex, an effect previously restricted to early development. The finding positions the gut microbiome as a tunable regulator of critical periods rather than a purely developmental factor. Translation to humans remains limited by species differences in brain complexity and microbiome stability.
Researchers first depleted the microbiome of 21-day-old mice with ten days of broad-spectrum antibiotics, abolishing the expected shift in ocular dominance after monocular deprivation; RNA-seq then revealed more than 1,000 differentially expressed genes tied to myelination and blood-brain-barrier permeability. In the key experiment, 4-month-old adults received FMT from either age-matched or juvenile donors; only the juvenile-microbiota group exhibited measurable cortical remapping, measured by intrinsic-signal optical imaging. The work builds on earlier human correlational data linking Lachnospiraceae abundance to cognitive resilience and on Schellekens' metabolite-focused studies at Cork, yet stops short of identifying the short-chain fatty acids or strains that reopen plasticity windows.
Tognini lab: Within 36 months a strain-resolved metabolomic screen will identify at least one Lachnospiraceae-derived molecule whose oral administration replicates the FMT effect size in aged mice.
Sources (2)
- [1]Primary Source(https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-08789-2)
- [2]Supporting Source(https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06542-0)