Gut Microbiota-bile acid-progesterone Axis Mediates White Matter Injury in Infant Chronic Hypoxia

Lately research suggested chronic hypoxia could disturb gut microbial balance which is essential to the brain development. However, mechanisms underlying such association remain largely unknown.

Here, we found a strong correlation between severe brain immature and white matter injury (WMI) in infants underwent chronic hypoxia. Mechanistically, in a neonatal rat model of chronic hypoxia, we characterized severe brain immature and WMI with the deficits of motor coordination and learning. By combining 16S rRNA gene sequencing with untargeted metabolic profiling, we identified a reduction of intestinal Bacteroides and Parabacteroides under chronic hypoxia which causes the low production of progesterone, which is mainly due to the impair of the synthesis of progesterone by the accumulation of cholic acid.