Eriko Ueda, Michiko Matsunaga, Hideaki Fujihara, Takamasa Kajiwara, K Aya Takeda, Satoshi Watanabe, Keisuke Hagihara and Masako Myowa : Temperament in Early Childhood Is Associated With Gut Microbiota Composition and Diversity., Developmental Psychobiology, 66, 7, 2024.
(Summary)
Temperament is a key predictor of human mental health and cognitive and emotional development. Although human fear behavior is reportedly associated with gut microbiome in infancy, infant gut microbiota changes dramatically during the first 5 years, when the diversity and composition of gut microbiome are established. This period is crucial for the development of the prefrontal cortex, which is involved in emotion regulation. Therefore, this study investigated the relationship between temperament and gut microbiota in 284 preschool children aged 3-4 years. Child temperament was assessed by maternal reports of the Children's Behavior Questionnaire. Gut microbiota (alpha/beta diversity and genera abundance) was evaluated using 16S rRNA sequencing of stool samples. A low abundance of anti-inflammatory bacteria (e.g., Faecalibacterium) and a high abundance of pro-inflammatory bacteria (e.g., Eggerthella, Flavonifractor) were associated with higher negative emotionality and stress response (i.e., negative affectivity, β = -0.17, p = 0.004) and lower positive emotionality and reward-seeking (i.e., surgency/extraversion, β = 0.15, p = 0.013). Additionally, gut microbiota diversity was associated with speed of response initiation (i.e., impulsivity, a specific aspect of surgency/extraversion, β = 0.16, p = 0.008). This study provides insight into the biological mechanisms of temperament and takes important steps toward identifying predictive markers of psychological/emotional risk.
Hideaki Fujihara, Michiko Matsunaga, Eriko Ueda, Takamasa Kajiwara, K Aya Takeda, Satoshi Watanabe, Kairi Baba, Keisuke Hagihara and Masako Myowa : Altered Gut Microbiota Composition Is Associated with Difficulty in Explicit Emotion Regulation in Young Children., Microorganisms, 11, 9, 2023.
(Summary)
Executive function (EF) consists of explicit emotion regulation (EER) and cognitive control (CC). Childhood EER in particular predicts mental and physical health in adulthood. Identifying factors affecting EER development has implications for lifelong physical and mental health. Gut microbiota (GM) has attracted attention as a potential biomarker for risk of physical and mental problems in adulthood. Furthermore, GM is related to brain function/structure, which plays a crucial role in emotional processing. However, little is known about how GM compositions are associated with the development of emotion regulation in early childhood. Therefore, in this study, we examined 257 children aged 3-4 to investigate links between GM and risk to EF. EF was measured using the Mother-Reported Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function-Preschool version. GM composition (alpha/beta diversity and genus abundance) was evaluated using 16S rRNA gene sequencing and compared between EF-risk and non-risk groups. Our results show that children with EER-risk (an index of inhibitory self-control) had a higher abundance of the genera Actinomyces and Sutterella. Although we have not established a direct link between GM and CC risk, our findings indicate that GM of preschoolers is closely associated with emotional processing and that EERrisk children have more inflammation-related bacteria.
Hideaki Fujihara, Akiko Megumi and Akira Yasumura : The acute effect of moderate-intensity exercise on inhibitory control and activation of prefrontal cortex in younger and older adults., Experimental Brain Research, 239, 6, 1765-1778, 2021.
(Summary)
Exercise has a significant effect on maintaining the health of inhibitory function, a fundamental cognitive ability that supports daily mental processes. While previous studies have shown that a single bout of exercise, called acute exercise, could improve inhibitory control by stimulating the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and the arousal state, few studies have focused on the differences in the effects of exercise by age. In this study, young and older adults (mean age, 22.7 ± 1.4 and 68.7 ± 5.3 years, respectively) engaged in acute moderate-intensity exercise and inhibitory control. Before and at 5 and 30 min after exercise, the participants were asked to complete the reverse Stroop task, and their arousal state and PFC activity were measured using functional near-infrared spectroscopy. The findings showed that the overall inhibitory control improved immediately after performing acute exercise and remained improved even after 30 min. Particularly, there was a difference in the arousal state and middle PFC activity between the two age groups. Especially, the young adults showed an increase in the arousal state post-exercise, while the older adults tended to show an increase in the middle PFC activity. These results suggested that the acute exercise effects on the arousal state and PFC activity may vary depending on the developmental stage, but not for inhibitory control overtime. When these findings are considered, it is important to note that the exercise impact on cognitive control remained the same throughout the generations despite the observed changes in its impact on internal states.
(Keyword)
Executive Function / NIRS / Exercise / Prefrontal Cortex
Hideaki Fujihara, Michiko Matsunaga, Eriko Ueda, Takamasa Kajiwara, Aya K. Takeda, Satoshi Watanabe, Kairi Baba, Keisuke Hagihara and Masako Myowa : Early childhood gut microbiota: its association with emotional regulation and cognitive aspects of executive function., 4th edition of the International World of Microbiome Conference, Sofia, Bulgaria, Oct. 2023.
2.
Hideaki Fujihara, Michiko Matsunaga, Eriko Ueda, Takamasa Kajiwara, Aya K. Takeda, Satoshi Watanabe, Kairi Baba, Keisuke Hagihara and Masako Myowa : Altered composition of gut microbiome associated with explicit emotional regulation in Japanese preschool children., Society for Research in Child Development 2023 Biennial Meeting, Salt Lake City, United States, Mar. 2023.
3.
Eriko Ueda, Michiko Matsunaga, Hideaki Fujihara, Takamasa Kajiwara, Aya K. Takeda, Satoshi Watanabe, Kairi Baba, Keisuke Hagihara and Masako Myowa : The maturity of the gut microbiome is associated with temperament in preschool children., The International Human Microbiome Consortium Congress 2022, Kobe, Japan, Nov. 2022.
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Hideaki Fujihara, Akiko Megumi and Akira Yasumura : The Sustained Effects of Acute Exercise on Inhibitory Control, Mood and Prefrontal Cortex Activity in Older Adults., International Conference on Dementia, Causes, Concerns and Preventions 2021, Venice, Italy, Apr. 2021.
5.
Hideaki Fujihara, Akiko Megumi and Akira Yasumura : The Relationship between Prefrontal cortex activity and Autism Spectrum Quotient score during an executive function task., 15th Annual Autism Conference, Mar. 2021.