CAN THE GUT MICROBIOTA MODULATED BY CESAREAN SECTION ALTER NEUROENDOCRINE ASPECTS AND THE NEUROTOXICITY PATTERN OF DEHP IN ADULT MALE RATS?

• Grant number: 24/03315-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: January 01, 2025
• End date: August 31, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Pharmacology - Toxicology
• Principal Investigator: Juliana Elaine Perobelli
• Grantee: Laís Nogueira da Silva
• Host Institution: Instituto do Mar (IMar). Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP). Campus Baixada Santista. Santos , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The gut microbiota (GM) is the group of microorganisms that inhabit the gastrointestinal tract of mammals, including humans. It plays a role in the host's organism, such as regulating energy balance and development and modulation of the immune system. Eubiosis corresponds to the balance between the MI and the host, while the disturbance of this balance is called dysbiosis. The birth pathway is one of the main modulating factors of the GM and can alter its composition and initial development. The composition and metabolism of the GM can affect several systems of the organism due to the communication axes established between them, such as the microbiota-gut-brain axis, which has as communication mechanisms the neural, immunological, endocrine and metabolic routes, proving to be bidirectional. The GM acts on the metabolism of xenobiotics, such as DEHP phthalate, altering their half-life, bioavailability and, consequently, toxicity. In this context, it is hypothesized that the GM bacterial community, altered by cesarean section, may accentuate the neurotoxicity exerted by prolonged oral exposure to DEHP, including neuroendocrine and behavioral aspects of male rats, through dysregulation of the complex communication axis existing between microbiota-gut-brain. Therefore, the objective of the present study is to investigate whether the GM, altered by cesarean section, is capable of interfering with neuroendocrine parameters of adult rats and influencing the pattern of neurotoxicity exerted by prolonged oral exposure to DEHP, including neuroendocrine and behavioral aspects of adult male mice.