The potential of olfaction loss to induce cognitive impairment and anxiety behavior in mice via the microbiota-gut-brain axis.

Authors

Xiangyu Zhao, Chao Xue, Yiming Wang, Xiwei Liu, Ran Li, Xianfeng Yi

Published in

Frontiers in microbiology. Volume 16. Pages 1595742. Epub Jul 02, 2025.

Abstract

Olfactory dysfunction and cognition decline are frequently observed; however, very little is known about whether olfactory disorders trigger cognitive impairment.
Here, we induced olfactory loss in mice and investigated whether and how olfactory loss induces cognitive impairment and anxiety behavior.
Olfactory loss not only causes a significant decrease in food intake and body weight and an increase in O₂ consumption but also induces cognitive impairment and anxiety behavior. Olfactory loss-induced alteration of the gut microbiota is associated with subsequent changes in cecal short-chain fatty acids and serum neurotransmitter levels. Hippocampus proteome and fecal microbial transplantation provide further support for the mechanisms by which olfactory loss triggers cognitive impairment and anxiety behavior via the microbiota-gut-brain axis.
Our study is expected to provide some evidence for olfactory dysfunction in triggering cognitive impairment through the microbiota-gut-brain axis.

PMID:
40673140
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 17 Jul 2025.

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