Temperament and its Relationship to Gut Microbiome Diversity in Male Sprague-Dawley Rats
Open Access
- Author:
- Kadidahl, Deepa
- Area of Honors:
- Biobehavioral Health
- Degree:
- Bachelor of Science
- Document Type:
- Thesis
- Thesis Supervisors:
- Sonia Angele Cavigelli, Thesis Supervisor
Lori Anne Francis, Thesis Honors Advisor - Keywords:
- Temperament
Gut Microbiome
Sprague-Dawley rats - Abstract:
- Temperament refers to a profile of behavioral tendencies and certain temperaments such as Behavioral Inhibition and Social Boldness have been implicated in impaired social behavior, stress coping, and mental health outcomes (Fox & Pine, 2012; Kabelick et al., 2021). To understand why specific temperaments are connected to adverse mental health outcomes, we look to the gut microbiome. Growing evidence suggests that the gut microbiome may play a role in the development of mental and behavioral health disorders. Given that both temperament and gut microbiome are associated with mental health and behavior, the relationship between temperament and gut microbial diversity may be key to understanding if the gut microbiome is a mechanism by which temperament affects the onset of psychological and neurodevelopmental disorders. To examine this, male Sprague-Dawley rats were subjected to a series of behavior tests, the results of which were used to classify the rats based on temperament and determine associations with gut microbial species richness. The findings indicate no significant relationship exists between gut microbial species richness and rat temperament. Although a consensus exists in the literature that the gut microbiome is associated with temperament, future studies should examine specific microbial compositions and their relationship to temperament to further refute or confirm that the gut microbiome explains the association between temperament and mental/behavioral health outcomes.