Maternal exposure to Helicobacter pylori impairs spatial and recognition memory in rat offspring: Ameliorative effect of monoamine oxidase inhibition.

During recent years, researchers have extensively investigated various health issues associated with prenatal challenges and the subsequent outcomes emerging in the next generation. In this respect, prenatal exposure to infections is correlated with the development of cognitive deficits in offspring. There is evidence indicating that disturbance of maternal microbiota adversely affects the gut-brain axis, which in turn could compromise fetal development and cause persistent physiological defects. Previous studies have reported that Helicobacter pylori infection is correlated with cognitive decline; however, this issue has not been investigated in offspring. Therefore, we applied behavioral methods to reveal how maternal H. pylori infection could affect memory function using the Morris water maze and novel object recognition in male offspring. Then, the cellular mechanisms associated with H. pylori-induced effects were probed using specific biochemical measurements in hippocampal tissues. Results indicated that spatial and recognition memory is impaired in offspring born from mothers with a history of H. pylori infection, and this appears to be correlated with a disturbance of the balance among oxidative, inflammatory, serotonergic, and cholinergic profiles within the hippocampi. In addition, the mentioned H. pylori-related effects were found to be biochemically restored and behaviorally ameliorated by pharmacological inhibition of the monoamine oxidase enzyme, proposing a potential for amelioration of cognitive outcomes.