[{"command":"openDialog","selector":"#drupal-modal","settings":null,"data":"\u003Cdiv id=\u0022republish_modal_form\u0022\u003E\u003Cform class=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form ecl-form\u0022 data-drupal-selector=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 action=\u0022\/en\/article\/modal\/7010\u0022 method=\u0022post\u0022 id=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 accept-charset=\u0022UTF-8\u0022\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHorizon articles can be republished for free under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence.\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EYou must give appropriate credit. We ask you to do this by:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 1) Using the original journalist\u0027s byline\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 2) Linking back to our original story\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 3) Using the following text in the footer: This article was originally published in \u003Ca href=\u0027#\u0027\u003EHorizon, the EU Research and Innovation magazine\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003ESee our full republication guidelines \u003Ca href=\u0027\/horizon-magazine\/republish-our-stories\u0027\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EHTML for this article, including the attribution and page view counter, is below:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\u0022js-form-item form-item js-form-type-textarea form-item-body-content js-form-item-body-content ecl-form-group ecl-form-group--text-area form-no-label ecl-u-mv-m\u0022\u003E\n \n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n \u003Ctextarea data-drupal-selector=\u0022edit-body-content\u0022 aria-describedby=\u0022edit-body-content--description\u0022 id=\u0022edit-body-content\u0022 name=\u0022body_content\u0022 rows=\u00225\u0022 cols=\u002260\u0022 class=\u0022form-textarea ecl-text-area\u0022\u003E\u003Ch2\u003EBacteria keep us healthy \u2013 but could they keep us young?\u003C\/h2\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIt\u2019s part of a field of research looking at the link between gut bacteria and ageing to help people live healthier lives in old age. The proportion of the EU population aged 80 or over is \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/ec.europa.eu\/eurostat\/statistics-explained\/index.php\/Population_structure_and_ageing#The_share_of_elderly_people_continues_to_increase\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener noreferrer\u0022\u003Epredicted to more than double between 2017 and 2080\u003C\/a\u003E, with those aged 65-plus rising from 20 to almost 30%.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHowever, the connection between the make-up of microbiota in the gut, brain functions and ageing has been unclear \u2013\u0026nbsp;with cause and effect difficult to establish.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDr Damien Rei, a postdoctoral researcher into neurodegenerative and psychiatric diseases at the Pasteur Institute in France, decided to examine the different types of microbiome that appear in younger and older mice to understand better what might happen in people too.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHe found that when he transferred gut bacteria in older mice to young adult mice, there was a strong effect on reducing learning and memory. And when the opposite was done, with older mice receiving microbiota from younger mice, their cognitive abilities returned to normal. The older mice were aged about a year and a half \u2013 equivalent to about 60-plus human years.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018Despite being aged animals, their learning abilities were almost indistinguishable from those of young adult mice after the microbiota transfer,\u2019 said Dr Rei \u2013 adding that this indicated strong communication between the gut and brain. \u2018When I saw the data, I couldn\u2019t believe it. I had to redo the experiment at least a couple of times.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class\u003EFurthermore, by seeing what was happening to the neuronal pathways of communication between the gut and brain when the aged microbiota was transferred to the younger mice, they were then able to manipulate these pathways. By doing this, he says they could\u0026nbsp;block or mimic the effects of the aged microbiota.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDr Rei\u2019s study, which was carried out as part of a project called \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cordis.europa.eu\/project\/rcn\/201612\/factsheet\/en\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener noreferrer\u0022\u003EMicrobiota and Aging\u003C\/a\u003E, has not yet been published, but he hopes this could happen by the end of the summer. He is also looking into human gut microbiota in older people and those with Alzheimer\u2019s disease, but said it is too early to reveal further details about this research.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ETranslating\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHowever, Dr Rei pointed out that there is a big challenge in translating results in mice to people, not only because of the significant ethical barriers, but also the differences in physiology. \u2018The immune system of a mouse is very different to one of a human. The gut microbiota is also very different because mice eat very different things to what we do,\u2019 he said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cfigure role=\u0022group\u0022\u003E\n\u003Cimg alt=\u0022Image credit - Horizon\u0022 height=\u0022271\u0022 src=\u0022\/research-and-innovation\/sites\/default\/files\/hm\/IMCEUpload\/microbiota-factoid-982.jpg\u0022 title=\u0022Image credit - Horizon\u0022 width=\u0022982\u0022\u003E\n\u003Cfigcaption class=\u0022tw-italic tw-mb-4\u0022\u003EImage credit - Horizon\u003C\/figcaption\u003E\n\u003C\/figure\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EResearch is still a long way off from making real inroads into using this type of research to combat neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer\u2019s, says\u0026nbsp;Dr Rei. Indeed, he says, there is no convincing evidence yet that looking at the gut microbiota is the way to go. But he believes the mouse study opens doors to further investigation into mechanisms behind age-related changes.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018The data on the mice was really the first stepping stone, and it was a way for us to understand the potential of manipulating the gut microbiota,\u2019 said Dr Rei.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EPinning down the link between gut bacteria and ageing is not straightforward, according to Dr Thorsten Brach, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018It\u2019s known that ageing is a multifactorial process and it\u2019s hard, especially when it comes to the microbiome, to separate the effects of ageing specifically from all other aspects,\u2019 he said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHe worked on a project called \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cordis.europa.eu\/project\/rcn\/201497\/factsheet\/en\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener noreferrer\u0022\u003EGut-InflammAge\u003C\/a\u003E, which looked at the link between gut microbes, inflammation and ageing, led by associate professor Manimozhiyan Arumugam.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAs part of their work, the team investigated the effects of mild periodic calorie restriction in mice to explore the potential impact of healthy-ageing diets involving fasting. Unexpectedly, calorie-restricted mice accumulated more body fat \u2013 which the researchers speculate may have been down to overeating between these periods \u2013 but also saw a mild \u2018rejuvenation\u2019 of their blood profile so it more closely resembled that of younger mice.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cblockquote class=\u0022tw-text-center tw-text-blue tw-font-bold tw-text-2xl lg:tw-w-1\/2 tw-border-2 tw-border-blue tw-p-12 tw-my-8 lg:tw-m-12 lg:tw--ml-16 tw-float-left\u0022\u003E\n \u003Cspan class=\u0022tw-text-5xl tw-rotate-180\u0022\u003E\u201c\u003C\/span\u003E\n \u003Cp class=\u0022tw-font-serif tw-italic\u0022\u003E\u2018Despite being aged animals, their learning abilities were almost indistinguishable from those of young adult mice after the microbiota transfer.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cfooter\u003E\n \u003Ccite class=\u0022tw-not-italic tw-font-normal tw-text-sm tw-text-black\u0022\u003EDamien Rei, Pasteur Institute, France\u003C\/cite\u003E\n \u003C\/footer\u003E\n\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe researchers did observe a difference between the microbiota composition in the different groups, but overall in the study the differences found were not big enough to suggest more than healthy variability between individuals. The study therefore supported the view that diet and lifestyle are more critical than age and gender in shaping the microbiota, said the researchers \u2013 though Prof. Arumugam said it would be more revealing to follow changes in individual people\u2019s microbiomes over time.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe studies carried out so far indicate there is still a long way to go in painting an accurate picture of the link between microbiota and the ageing process. Prof. Arumugam also pointed out that microbiome analysis is lagging behind technologically compared with genetics research, with disease cause and effect harder to establish than with genes.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBut research is gradually improving our understanding. Prof. Arumugam said that though his team\u2019s study did not achieve a \u2018breakthrough\u2019, it helped give more insight into this area and raised questions over previous assumptions.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAnd research in this area could ultimately change how we view ageing, says Dr Rei, seeing it as more fluid than just \u2018a totally one-way road with no turning back, except in the movies like Benjamin Button.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EThe research in this article was funded by the EU. 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