Your body is not a collection of discrete and separate organs that function independently of each other, even if our medical system does treat it that way. Rather, you are an intricately connected network; your brain, digestive system, heart and immune system are all part of a greater communicating whole. This has been clearly demonstrated recently in a study showing that antibiotics that kill off gut bacteria can also kill off brain cells via a immune system messenger molecule.
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The new study involved mice who were given antibiotics to such a degree that they experienced a significant loss of gut bacteria. The performance of these mice on memory tests was then compared to that of mice who had not been given antibiotics. Those mice who had been given the antibiotics did worse on the memory tests and also showed a loss of neurogenesis (generation of new brain cells) in a part of the hippocampus that typically produces new brain cells throughout a lifetime.
Additionally, those mice given antibiotics had lower levels in the brain of a white blood cell with the marker Ly6Chi. When the researchers replaced Ly6Chi in the mice given antiobiotics, both memory and neurogenesis returned to normal. They also found that probiotics and exercising on a stationary wheel could return Ly6Chi levels to normal.
It would seem that when the gut bacteria are damaged and the biome is altered then the signalling molecule Ly6Chi is also reduced and that impacts brain function. Don’t panic though if you have had antibiotics and have an exam coming up; just take probiotics and find yourself a wheel to run in.
