Illustration portrays the microbial makeup of human beings. According to recent studies on zebrafish, gut microbes play a role in the process of pruning excess connections in brain circuits that regulate social behavior. This pruning is crucial for the development of normal social behavior.
Here, the team found a pathway linking microbes in the gut to these neurons in the brain. In healthy fish, gut microbes spurred cells called microglia to prune back extra links between neurons. “We’ve known for a while that the microbiome influences a lot of things during development,” Washbourne said. “But there hasn’t been a lot of concrete data about how the microbiome is influencing the brain. We’ve done quite a bit to push the boundary there.”
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