Huang Xiaohong, Cheng Heng-Wei
Institute of Neuroregeneration & Neurorehabilitation, Department of Pathophysiology, Qingdao University, Qingdao 266071, China.
Department of Animal Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA.
Biomedicines. 2022 May 17;10(5):1155. doi: 10.3390/biomedicines10051155.
Nutrients and xenobiotics cross the blood-placenta barrier, potentially depositing in the fetal brain. The prenatal exposure affects the neuroendocrine and microbial development. The mechanism underlying maternal risk factors reprograming the microbiota-gut-brain axis with long-term effects on psychosocial behaviors in offspring is not clear. In humans, it is not possible to assess the nutrient or xenobiotic deposition in the fetal brain and gastrointestinal system for ethical reasons. Moreover, the maternal-fetal microbe transfer during gestation, natural labor, and breast-feeding constitutes the initial gut microbiome in the progeny, which is inevitable in the most widely utilized rodent models. The social predisposition in precocial birds, including chickens, provides the possibility to test behavioral responses shortly after being hatched. Hence, chickens are advantageous in investigating the ontogenetic origin of behaviors. Chicken embryos are suitable for deposition assessment and mechanistic study due to the accessibility, self-contained development, uniform genetic background, robust microbiota, and easy in vivo experimental manipulation compared to humans and rodents. Therefore, chicken embryos can be used as an alternative to the rodent models in assessing the fetal exposure effect on neurogenesis and investigating the mechanism underlying the ontogenetic origin of neuropsychiatric disorders.
营养物质和外源性物质可穿过血胎盘屏障，有可能沉积在胎儿大脑中。产前暴露会影响神经内分泌和微生物发育。母体风险因素重新编程微生物群-肠道-脑轴并对后代心理社会行为产生长期影响的潜在机制尚不清楚。在人类中，出于伦理原因，无法评估胎儿大脑和胃肠道系统中的营养物质或外源性物质沉积情况。此外，妊娠、自然分娩和母乳喂养期间的母婴微生物转移构成了后代最初的肠道微生物群，这在最广泛使用的啮齿动物模型中是不可避免的。包括鸡在内的早成鸟的社会倾向为测试孵化后不久的行为反应提供了可能性。因此，鸡在研究行为的个体发生起源方面具有优势。与人类和啮齿动物相比，鸡胚胎由于易于获取、自主发育、遗传背景一致且强大的微生物群以及易于进行体内实验操作，适合进行沉积评估和机制研究。因此，鸡胚胎可作为啮齿动物模型的替代品，用于评估胎儿暴露对神经发生的影响，并研究神经精神疾病个体发生起源的潜在机制。
