Could Faecal Transplants Rejuvenate Ageing Brains?

We know there’s an intimate connection between the bowel and the brain. Or rather between our gut bacteria, the microbiome, and the brain. We already accept for instance, that the microbiome, via its brain-gut axis, affects our appetite, our mood, our sleep and our weight.

- Dr Miriam Stoppard

Now new research suggests faecal transplants could arouse brain connections involved in learning and memory. So could they be used to slow cognitive decline in old people, or even restore their mental powers?

A team of researchers, from East Anglia University, Florence University, Italy, and the Norwich Quadram Institute, working with mice, have shown faecal transplants from older mice given to younger mice changed their gut microbiome, and this affected their spatial learning and memory.

The young adults subsequently showed impaired spatial learning and memory as measured in a maze test.