Consumption of fermented milk product with probiotic modulates brain activity
Authors: Jennifer Labus
Sophie Legrain-Raspaud
Jean Stains
Kirsten Tillisch
Zhiguo Jiang
Bruce Naliboff
Beatrice Trotin
Lisa Kilpatrick
Emeran A Mayer
Bahar Ebrat
Denis Guyonnet
Journal: Gastroenterology (2013)
Discipline: CLINICAL MEDICINE
Keywords: gut microbiota; probiotic; fermented milk product; brain intrinsic connectivity; emotional attention tasks
Affiliations: Oppenheimer Family Center for Neurobiology of Stress, Division of Digestive Diseases, Department of Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA. 

Abstract:  Background &amp; aims: Changes in gut microbiota have been reported to alter signaling mechanisms, emotional behavior, and visceral nociceptive reflexes in rodents. However, alteration of the intestinal microbiota with antibiotics or probiotics has not been shown to produce these changes in humans. We investigated whether consumption of a fermented milk product with probiotic (FMPP) for 4 weeks by healthy women altered brain intrinsic connectivity or responses to emotional attention tasks. Methods: Healthy women with no gastrointestinal or psychiatric symptoms were randomly assigned to groups given FMPP (n = 12), a nonfermented milk product (n = 11, controls), or no intervention (n = 13) twice daily for 4 weeks. The FMPP contained Bifidobacterium animalis subsp Lactis, Streptococcus thermophiles, Lactobacillus bulgaricus, and Lactococcus lactis subsp Lactis. Participants underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging before and after the intervention to measure brain response to an emotional faces attention task and resting brain activity. Multivariate and region of interest analyses were performed. Results: FMPP intake was associated with reduced task-related response of a distributed functional network (49% cross-block covariance; P = .004) containing affective, viscerosensory, and somatosensory cortices. Alterations in intrinsic activity of resting brain indicated that ingestion of FMPP was associated with changes in midbrain connectivity, which could explain the observed differences in activity during the task. Conclusions: Four-week intake of an FMPP by healthy women affected activity of brain regions that control central processing of emotion and sensation. 

Retracted: No

PubPeer comments:
 Figure 7C - Different lanes share the same background. Could authors provide the raw results, please? ![file] , 
 #1 This paper conforms to a style identified by [Dr Elisabeth Bik] and [Dr Jana Christopher] , among others. , 
 2020 retraction. https: www.scielo.br scielo.php?script=sci_arttext pid=S0100-879X2020001000953 tlng=en On April 15, 2020, the Brazilian Journal of Medical and Biological Research (BJMBR) received a request from the Corresponding author Zhibin Ge to withdraw this manuscript: u201cIn a subsequent experiment, we repeated the experiment in this manuscript. Unfortunately, we had different results than before. This led to inaccurate conclusions in the manuscript. In order to ensure the accuracy of the articles we have published, we must request retraction. All authors agree to this retractionu201d. As per consensus between the Editors-in-Chief of the BJMBR and the Authors, the article has been retracted. ,