Effect of probiotic supplementation on behavioral and electrophysiological aspects of memory and learning in ethanol exposed animals

Long lasting exposure to ethanol causes reversible impairment of learning and memory. Gut microbiota imbalance is linked to the neurological disorders. Recent studies indicate that probiotic consumption can relief learning and memory deficit. This study aimed to investigate the effect of probiotic supplementation with intragastric gavage on behavioral and electrophysiological aspects of learning and memory in ethanol exposed animals.

In this study, 4 groups including control (CON) and probiotic administered (C+P) groups, the group receiving chronic ethanol (CE) and CE animals receiving probiotic (E+P) were entered the study. The passive avoidance shuttle box test and in vivo electrophysiological experiment were carried out to assess hippocampal baseline filed excitatory postsynaptic potentials (fEPSPs) and long term potentiation (LTP).

Results showed that ethanol impaired memory in the CE rats. It also diminished the slope size of fEPSPs and prevented LTP induction in these animals. The probiotic supplementation improved the behavioral performance in the C+P rats but it did not influence synaptic transmission in this group.

Behavioral but not electrophysiological aspect of cognition cane be sensitive to the probiotic treatment in the ethanol exposed animals.