Inbred mouse model of brain development and intestinal microbiota

Abstract In this book chapter, we revisit laboratory animal modeling in neuroscience under modern vivarium biosecurity barriers, which have been critically important to the reproducibility and reliability of the generated data. However, limitations remain in translating data to human populations living in contaminated environments, where lifelong exposures to various levels of biohazards and chemical pollutants often occur. The majority of human populations in the developing world are still intolerably exposed to enteric pathogens and fecal coliforms (even without leading to overt diarrhea) and may be chronically afflicted with low-grade systemic inflammation, especially early in life, the same time window when dynamic events in brain plasticity happen, but also when the intestinal microbiota matures. Individuals living within a contaminated environment and having a related unhealthy gut microbiota may not achieve optimal brain development and may be more predisposed to neurodegenerative diseases later in life. Animal models are needed that better recapitulate these human living conditions and improve our understanding of the role of microbiota in these neurological conditions.