Do you know anyone with high anxiety problems? Did you recently score below average on your exam or currently looking for an excuse to not exercise? If that is the case, gut microbes will be your best friend to excuse you from your daily workouts, anxiety problems, and bad exams. The study shows that microbes in our intestines may alter brain development. Many scientists who study behavior and gene activity have seen the change in brain development as they come across gut microbes. One of the many scientists, Sven Pattersson, an immunologist for Karolinkska Institute in Stockholm, soon believed that there was a microbe that can influence one’s mental outlook after he and Shugui Wang, a genomicist from the Genome Institute of Singapore, discovered something from gut microbes. They observed that gut microbes regulated serotonin, a major brain chemical in the human body, through the studies of gene expression.

Soon after this interesting discovery, Petterssoon then collaborated with Rochellys Diaz Heijtz, a neurobiologist from Karolinkska Institute, to set out on a new experiment. As a result, they conducted experiments with germ-free mice and mice that had intact gut bacteria. Those experiments allowed both scientists to observe the mice closely for any signs of behavioral differences. Soon enough, their findings supported Patterssoon’s belief that gut microbes influence mental function. Their studies revealed that the germ-free mice had lower anxiety compared to the mice with intact gut bacteria. Therefore, there is a strong possibility that gut microbes may alter brain development and behavior. Hence the change in your mood or daily activities, it could very well be a gut microbe that has altered one’s brain activity.