A07: The intestinal microbiota as a regulator of aggressive and impulsive behavior

This translational project investigates sex-dependent behavioral effects of faecal microbiota transplantation to microbiome-depleted mice from AMD patients (selected based on their aggressive and impulsive traits from Q01), as well as healthy controls. Impulsivity will be assessed via the continuous performance test and responses towards acute threat via the escalated resident intruder test. The goal is to determine the sex-dependent effects of faecal transplantation on selected readouts involved in the transfer of the patient’s phenotype to the mice, such as immune parameters, sex hormones, neuronal activity (and morphology, e.g., neurite outgrowth, spines, etc.), and gene expression (e.g., Rbfox1 from prior studies and novel candidates from C01 and C04).