Excellence in Research: Influence of Neuropeptide Regulation and the Gut Microbiota on Foraging and Food Choice

位于肠道中的微生物相互作用，并可能影响神经化学系统的功能，从而改变宿主的行为。肠道微生物群可以与大脑沟通，以确保通过影响觅食活动/行为和食物选择来充分维持食物摄入和能量消耗。肠道、肠道微生物群落和大脑之间的关系可能是双向的，大脑中可能有助于这种交流的一个可能的神经肽系统是食欲素系统。食欲素系统与许多过程有关，如活动和进食。该项目的目标是研究肠道微生物群如何影响觅食和食物选择后的宿主适应性，食欲素系统拮抗作用以及肠道微生物群的干扰（通过长期暴露于益生菌或抗生素）。 该项目将使用啮齿动物行为模型来识别对特定饮食具有高或低偏好的男性和女性，然后使用食欲素系统的药理学操作来分析粪便和结肠样本中微生物群落结构和多样性的变化。 此外，益生菌和抗生素管理将被用来检查这些方案如何控制摄食行为，影响食欲素神经元活性，以及微生物结构和多样性。这些数据将增强社会对大脑如何与微生物群落沟通的理解，以及这种相互作用如何影响生存所需的基本食物寻求行为，并维持与维持能量平衡有关的基本稳态过程。描述胃肠道系统，其微生物群落和大脑之间的关系对于我们理解微生物群-肠道-大脑轴的双向通信以及驱动觅食行为和食物选择的信号通路至关重要。该项目的目标是研究肠道微生物群影响觅食和食物选择的能力，并确定神经肽调节（通过食欲素）是否在微生物适应性中发挥作用。食欲素是调节能量平衡的神经肽，通过增加食物摄入和促进增加的能量消耗。食物选择测试和竞争性觅食测试将用于评估不同能量密度饮食和性别对摄食行为、宿主适应性、食欲素神经元活动和微生物组动态的影响。还将确定通过一组益生菌和抗生素改变微生物组是否会影响行为，生理和/或神经化学活性。据推测，肠道微生物群通过影响觅食和食物选择参与肠-脑信号传导，并且食欲素系统有助于驱动这些行为的机制。 除了为普通大众提供关于饮食选择及其在多个尺度上的影响的有价值的数据外，这项工作还将为HBCU的学生提供研究和教育机会，并帮助研究者所在大学制定更强大的教育计划。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响进行评估来支持审查标准。

Microorganisms located in the gut interact and may influence the function of neurochemical systems that alter behavior in their hosts. The gut microbiota may communicate with the brain to ensure that food intake and energy expenditure are adequately maintained by influencing foraging activity/behavior and food choices. It is possible that the relationship between the gut, its microbial community and the brain is bidirectional, and one possible neuropeptide system in the brain that may contribute to this communication is the orexin system. The orexin system has been associated with many processes, such as activity and feeding. The goal of this project is to investigate how gut microbiota influence host fitness after foraging and food choice, orexin system antagonism, and disturbances of the gut microbiota (via long-term exposure to probiotics or antibiotics). This project will use a rodent behavioral model to identify males and females with high or low-preference for a particular diet and then use pharmacological manipulations of the orexin system to analyze shifts in structure and diversity of microbial communities as analyzed from fecal and colon samples. In addition, probiotic and antibiotic administrations will be employed to examine how these regimens control feeding behavior, affect orexin neuronal activity, and microbial structure and diversity. These data will enhance society's understanding of how the brain communicates with microbial communities and how this interaction can impact fundamental food seeking behaviors that are required for survival and maintain fundamental homeostatic processes involved in maintenance of energy balance. Delineating the relationship between the gastrointestinal system, its microbial community, and the brain is critical to our understanding of the bidirectional communication of the microbiota-gut-brain axis and signaling pathways that drive foraging behavior and food choice. The goal of this project is to investigate the ability of gut microbiota to influence foraging and food choice and determine whether neuropeptide regulation (via orexins) plays a role in microbial fitness. Orexins are neuropeptides that regulate energy balance, by increasing food intake and contribute to increased energy expenditure. Food choice testing and competitive foraging tests will be used to assess the impact of varying energy-dense diets and sex on feeding behavior, host fitness, orexin neuronal activity, and microbiome dynamics. It will also be determined whether microbiome alterations via a panel of probiotics and antibiotics impacts behavioral, physiological, and/or neurochemical activity. It is hypothesized that gut microbiota participate in gut-brain signaling by influencing foraging and food choice and that the orexin system contributes to the mechanisms that drive these behaviors. In addition to providing valuable data for the general populace about dietary choices and their impacts across multiple scales this work will provide research and educational opportunities for students at an HBCU and help in developing stronger educational programs at the investigator's home university.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.