Microbe’s Effect on Humans

Research at McMaster University has linked the bacteria found in a person’s gut to depression and anxiety (Gut). People that have irritable bowel syndrome or late onset autism had atypical gut bacteria. Stephen Collins, Associate Dean of Research and professor at Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine, and Premysl Bercik, an assistant professor, conducted the research on healthy adult mice and mice that showed aggressive behavior at Farncombe Family Digestive Health Research Institute (Gut). Healthy mice were given antibiotics which transformed the gut bacteria content. The mice were then linked to anxious behavior. However, when the mice were taken off the antibiotics, their bacterial content returned to normal, as did their behaviors (Gut). Collins and Bercik also found that when normal, healthy mice were colonized with aggressive and active behavior mice’s bacteria, the healthy mice …show more content…
Recently, researchers at Arizona State University took the feces of healthy children and compared it to those of Autistic children (Moyer). Fifty of the types of bacteria found in the healthy children and autistic children’s bacteria differed in levels. In 2013, Italian researchers discovered that fewer Bifidobacterium, which promote good health, were found in the feces of children with autism (Moyer). Scientist had trouble understanding if unhealthy bacteria in the gut caused autism or if it was a result of it. Researchers at the California Institute of Technology tested this idea using mice. They injected healthy, pregnant mice with a virus like molecule (Moyer). Researchers saw that the mice’s offspring’s gut bacteria had changed. They treated these mice with Bacteroides fragilis, which rid the rodents of the behavioral symptoms (Moyer). Changing the bacteria in an autistic person’s intestines may not treat autism, but it could alleviate the behavioral symptoms that come along with