Microbes on the Mind: Multi-modal Neuroimaging Reveals Gut-Brain Axes in Infants
- 1Department of Radiology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States; Biomedical Research Imaging Center, University
Abstract
The gut microbiome develops from birth and is associated with cognition and mental health, but its relationship with early brain maturation remains unclear. We studied 223 typically developing infants aged 0-3 years using multimodal MRI and paired fecal shotgun metagenomics. Microbiome-wide association analysis linked microbial features to cortical morphology, white-matter microstructure, and functional networks. Regularized canonical correlation analysis identified structural-metabolic and functional-taxonomic covariance patterns. Sparse partial least-squares analysis recapitulated both full-sample CCA patterns and their defining structural and functional phenotypes, providing cross-method corroboration. Longitudinal canonical-score slopes did not significantly covary, whereas earlier neuroimaging CCA1 scores predicted microbiome CCA1 scores 1-6 months later in bidirectional autoregressive cross-lag models. These observational results identify coordinated developmental patterns and temporal ordering without establishing causality.
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BibTeX
@misc{li2026microbes,
title = {{Microbes on the Mind: Multi-modal Neuroimaging Reveals Gut-Brain Axes in Infants}},
author = {T. Li and Y. Yang and S.-H. Cho and B. R. Howell and Z. Wu and W. Yin and J. T. Elison and K. M. Huynh and S. Ahmad and P.-T. Yap and G. Li and L. Wang and H. Zhu and W. Lin and UNC/UMN Baby Connectome Project Consortium},
howpublished = {bioRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.64898/2026.09.23.753825},
url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.23.753825v1},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Microbes on the Mind: Multi-modal Neuroimaging Reveals Gut-Brain Axes in Infants
AU - T. Li
AU - Y. Yang
AU - S.-H. Cho
AU - B. R. Howell
AU - Z. Wu
AU - W. Yin
AU - J. T. Elison
AU - K. M. Huynh
AU - S. Ahmad
AU - P.-T. Yap
AU - G. Li
AU - L. Wang
AU - H. Zhu
AU - W. Lin
AU - UNC/UMN Baby Connectome Project Consortium
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/23
PB - bioRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.09.23.753825
UR - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.23.753825v1
AB - The gut microbiome develops from birth and is associated with cognition and mental health, but its relationship with early brain maturation remains unclear. We studied 223 typically developing infants aged 0-3 years using multimodal MRI and paired fecal shotgun metagenomics. Microbiome-wide association analysis linked microbial features to cortical morphology, white-matter microstructure, and functional networks. Regularized canonical correlation analysis identified structural-metabolic and functional-taxonomic covariance patterns. Sparse partial least-squares analysis recapitulated both full-sample CCA patterns and their defining structural and functional phenotypes, providing cross-method corroboration. Longitudinal canonical-score slopes did not significantly covary, whereas earlier neuroimaging CCA1 scores predicted microbiome CCA1 scores 1-6 months later in bidirectional autoregressive cross-lag models. These observational results identify coordinated developmental patterns and temporal ordering without establishing causality.
ER -