Carbon-14-Labeled Microbes to Track the Fates of Microbial Metabolites: A Potential Technical Approach to Define the Gut-Brain Axis in Animal Models

Executive Summary

We will study the feasibility of a novel technical approach that will leverage microbial metabolism to transfer carbon-14 from the labeled metabolite to the catabolite in vitro. If successful, this will serve as a potential approach to directly measure, for the first time, the crosstalk between the gut and brain to understand the etiology of neuropsychiatric disorders or therapeutics used to modify the gut.