Abstract #5318

The Gut-Brain-Axis: from gut feelings to gut memory

Deepika Bagga^1,2, Karl Koschutnig², Bhageshwar Mohan³, Christoph Stefan Aigner⁴, Johanna Reichert^1,2, Peter Holzer^2,5, and Veronika Schӧpf^1,2

¹Institute of Psychology, University of Graz, Graz, Austria, ²BioTechMed, Graz, Austria, ³Institute of Chemical Engineering, Graz University of Technology, Graz, Austria, ⁴Institute of Medical Engineering, Graz University of Technology, Graz, Austria, ⁵Institute of Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology, Medical University of Graz, Graz, Austria

The present study investigated the effect of probiotic administration on emotional memory in healthy volunteers using fMRI. The preliminary results showed that probiotic intake for 4-5 weeks improved the response accuracy significantly and this was accompanied by a decrease in the neural activity in the brain areas associated with emotions and memory formations. This decrease was more prominent for unpleasant stimuli as compared to neutral stimuli. Considering the scarce literature on gut microbiota and brain interactions in humans, our findings might provide a gateway for further understanding of mechanisms of gut-brain interactions and their effect on emotions and memory.

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