Fig. 2: L. plantarum improved the imbalance in the microbiota ecosystem and autism-like behavior of MIA offsprings.

(A) Schematic of poly I: C-induced maternal immune activation and L. plantarum administration. The pregnant mice were injected with poly I: C (PIC) or PBS at day 12.5 of gestation (GD12.5), at the 3rd week, male offspring were weaned and treated with either L. plantarum or PBS, and the microecological system analysis and behavioral tests were performed 4 weeks after treatment. (B) Alpha diversity indices of genus. n = 8 mice/group. (C) Principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) of the gut microbiota based on an unweighted Bray-Curtis distance matrix. (D) The heatmap of differentially abundant genera. n = 8 mice/group. (E) Functional enrichment pathways for microbial communities between the PBS and the PIC group. (F) Functional enrichment pathways for microbial communities between PIC and PIC + L. plantarum group. (G) The statistical analysis of the marble-burying test. n = 11 mice/group. (H) The experimental pattern (top) of the three-chamber test for sociability; the statistical analysis (bottom) of the time that the offsprings interacted with the object and the stranger mouse. n = 9-12 mice/group. (I) The experimental pattern of (left) the three-chamber test for novelty; the statistical analysis (right) of the time that offsprings interacted with the familiar mouse and the novelty mouse. n = 9-12 mice/group. Data were presented as mean ± SEM, and statistical significance was determined by Tukey’s multiple comparisons test (G) and Sidak’s multiple comparisons test (H and I), significant differences were classified as follows: ns p > 0.05, *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ****p < 0.0001.