Vitamin B-6 Deficiency Induces Anxiety-Like Behavior in Sprague-Dawley Rats by Disrupting Gut Homeostasis
Bibliographic record
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Vitamin B-6 (VB-6) is essential for numerous metabolic pathways, including neurotransmitter synthesis, and its deficiency has been linked to neurologic disorders. Emerging evidence suggests that B vitamin deficiencies can disturb the gut microbiome. Although the gut-brain axis is well recognized, the influence of VB-6 deficiency on behavior via gut-mediated mechanisms remains poorly understood. OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to investigate the role of VB-6 in modulating the gut-brain axis and its impact on neurobehavioral outcomes. METHODS: Sixty-four Sprague-Dawley rats were fed an AIN-93G-based diet with either optimal [optimum vitamin B-6 (OB-6)] or deficient [deficient vitamin B-6 (DB-6)] amounts of VB-6 for 7 wk. Half of the rats received antibiotics in drinking water (ampicillin, 1 g/L; metronidazole, 1 g/L; and neomycin, 1 g/L) plus weekly gavage (vancomycin, 500 mg/L, and amphotericin B, 0.1 mg/mL). Plasma VB-6, neurotransmitters, short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), behavioral assessments, gut microbiome composition, and gut histology were assessed. Data were analyzed using 2-way or 3-way analysis of variance with Fisher's least significant difference post hoc test (P ≤ 0.05). RESULTS: DB-6 rats showed ≤96% reduction in plasma VB-6 (P < 0.001), 22% decrease in brain γ-aminobutyric acid (P < 0.01), and 32% increase in glutamic acid (P < 0.01) compared with OB-6 animals. In the open-field maze, DB-6 animals reduced center-zone entries by 42% in males and 20% in females (P < 0.05), indicating anxiety-like behavior. Gut microbiota profiling revealed significant increases in Lachnospiraceae sp. (+385%), Mucispirillum schaedleri (+174%), and Harryflintia sp. (+848%) and decreases in Muribaculaceae sp. (-36%), Bacteroides vulgatus (-69%), and Bilophila sp. (-81%; P < 0.50). Cecal SCFA concentrations declined in DB-6 animals (P = 0.01), including propionate (-18%) in males and isobutyrate (-37%) and isovalerate (-63%) in females. Significant correlations (P < 0.05) were found between these taxa and neurochemicals and behavioral changes. CONCLUSIONS: VB-6 deficiency alters gut microbiota composition, SCFA synthesis, and neurotransmitter balance, leading to anxiety-like behavior. These findings underscore the role of the gut microbiota in mediating VB-6-dependent gut-brain interactions.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Research integrity | 0.001 | 0.002 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.002 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".