Environmental enrichment-induced cognitive recovery after a moderate pediatric traumatic brain injury is associated with the gut microbiota and neuroinflammation

Pediatric traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a significant health concern, yet access to rehabilitation therapies for children remains limited. Environmental enrichment (EE) is a preclinical model of neurorehabilitation that promotes behavioral recovery and reduces neuroinflammation after TBI. While the gut microbiota has recently emerged as a potential therapeutic target for treating TBI sequelae in adults, its role in recovery after pediatric TBI remains unclear. Therefore, our aim was to assess the effect of EE on gut microbiota and its correlation with cognition as well as microglial morphology in a preclinical model of pediatric TBI. Male rats underwent a controlled cortical impact of moderate severity or sham injury at postnatal day 21 and were then randomly assigned to either EE or standard (STD) housing. Cognition was evaluated using the Morris water maze (MWM) on post-injury days 14–19. Microglial morphology and caecum microbiota was characterized on post-injury day 21. Cognitive deficits and increased microglial activation in the ipsilateral cortex were observed in the STD-housed TBI rats but not those in EE. TBI decreased microbiota α-diversity, while PERMANOVA analysis showed that both TBI and EE modified microbiota β-diversity. Furthermore, regression models indicated that microglial morphology in the ipsilateral cortex and Lactobacillus reuteri predicted behavioral outcomes, while Prevotellaceae NK3B31 was associated with microglial morphology. The data suggest that EE mitigates TBI-induced alterations in gut microbiota and that there is a complex interplay between EE, microbiota and microglial morphology that predicts behavioral recovery in pediatric rats.