Early-Life Stress Modulates Gut Microbiota and Peripheral and Central Inflammation in a Sex-Dependent Manner

Recent studies have reported that changes in gut microbiota composition could induce neuropsychiatric problems. In this study, we investigated alterations in gut microbiota induced by early-life stress (ELS) in rats subjected to maternal separation (MS; 6 h a day, postnatal days (PNDs) 1–21), along with changes in inflammatory cytokines and tryptophan-kynurenine (TRP-KYN) metabolism, and assessed the differences between sexes. High-throughput sequencing of the bacterial 16S rRNA gene showed that the relative abundance of the Bacteroides genus was increased and that of the Lachnospiraceae family was decreased in the feces of MS rats of both sexes (PND 56). By comparison, MS increased the relative abundance of the Streptococcus genus and decreased that of the Staphylococcus genus only in males, whereas the abundance of the Sporobacter genus was enhanced and that of the Mucispirillum genus was reduced by MS only in females. In addition, the levels of proinflammatory cytokines were increased in the colons (IFN-γ and IL-6) and sera (IL-1β) of the male MS rats, together with the elevation of the KYN/TRP ratio in the sera, but not in females. In the hippocampus, MS elevated the level of IL-1β and the KYN/TRP ratio in both male and female rats. These results indicate that MS induces peripheral and central inflammation and TRP-KYN metabolism in a sex-dependent manner, together with sex-specific changes in gut microbes.