BACKGROUND: Anesthetic exposure during childhood is significantly associated with impairment of neurodevelopmental outcomes; however, the causal relationship and detailed mechanism of developmental anesthetic neurotoxicity remain unclear. Gut microbiota produces various metabolites and influences the brain function and development of the host. This relationship is referred to as the gut-brain axis. Gut microbiota may influence developmental anesthetic neurotoxicity caused by sevoflurane exposure. This study investigated the effect of changes in the composition of gut microbiota after fecal microbiota transplantation on spatial learning disability caused by developmental anesthetic neurotoxicity in neonatal rats. METHODS: Neonatal rats were allocated into the Control (n = 10) and Sevo (n = 10) groups in Experiment 1 and the Sevo (n = 20) and Sevo+FMT (n = 20) groups in Experiment 2, according to the randomly allocated mothers' group. The rats in Sevo and Sevo+FMT groups were exposed to 2.1% sevoflurane for 2 hours on postnatal days 7 to 13. Neonatal rats in the Sevo+FMT group received fecal microbiota transplantation immediately after sevoflurane exposure on postnatal days 7 to 13. The samples for fecal microbiota transplantation were obtained from nonanesthetized healthy adult rats. Behavioral tests, including Open field, Y-maze, Morris water maze, and reversal Morris water maze tests, were performed to evaluate spatial learning ability on postnatal days 26 to 39. RESULTS: Experiment 1 revealed that sevoflurane exposure significantly altered the gut microbiota composition. The relative abundance of Roseburia (effect value: 1.01) and Bacteroides genus (effect value: 1.03) increased significantly after sevoflurane exposure, whereas that of Lactobacillus (effect value: -1.20) decreased significantly. Experiment 2 revealed that fecal microbiota transplantation improved latency to target (mean ± SEM; Sevo group: 9.7 ± 8.2 seconds vs, Sevo+FMT group: 2.7 ± 2.4 seconds, d =1.16, 95% confidence interval: -12.7 to -1.3 seconds, P = .019) and target zone crossing times (Sevo group: 2.4 ± 1.6 vs, Sevo+FMT group: 5.4 ± 1.4, d =1.99, 95% confidence interval: 2.0-5.0, P < .001) in the reversal Morris water maze test. Microbiota analysis revealed that the α-diversity of gut microbiota increased after fecal microbiota transplantation. Similarly, the relative abundance of the Firmicutes phylum (effect value: 1.44), Ruminococcus genus (effect value: 1.69), and butyrate-producing bacteria increased after fecal microbiota transplantation. Furthermore, fecal microbiota transplantation increased the fecal concentration of butyrate and induced histone acetylation and the mRNA expression of brain-derived neurotrophic factor in the hippocampus, thereby suppressing neuroinflammation and neuronal apoptosis. CONCLUSIONS: The alternation of gut microbiota after fecal microbiota transplantation influenced spatial learning ability in neonatal rats with developmental anesthetic neurotoxicity. Modulation of the gut microbiota may be an effective prophylaxis for developmental anesthetic neurotoxicity in children.