Oral Administration of Human-Gut-Derived Prevotella histicola Improves Sleep Architecture in Rats

(1) Background: The human gut microbiome may regulate sleep through the gut-brain axis. However, the sleep-promoting effects of gut microbiota remain unclear. (2) Methods: We obtained sleep-wake profiles from 25 rats receiving P. histicola (P. histicola group), 5 rats receiving P. stercorea (P. stercorea group), 4 rats not receiving bacteria (No administration group), and 8 rats receiving P. histicola extracellular vesicles (EV) (EV group) during the baseline, administration, and withdrawal periods. (3) Results: The P. histicola group showed increased total sleep, rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, and non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep time during the administration and withdrawal periods; on the last day of administration, we found significant increases of 52 min for total sleep (p < 0.01), 13 min for REM sleep (p < 0.05), and 39 min for NREM sleep (p < 0.01) over the baseline. EV administration also increased NREM sleep time on Day 3 of administration (p = 0.05). We observed a linear trend in the dose-response relationship for total sleep and NREM sleep in the P. histicola group. However, neither the no-administration group nor the P. stercorea group showed significant findings. (4) Conclusions: Oral administration of probiotic P. histicola may improve sleep and could be a potential sleep aid. Further rigorous evaluations for the safety and efficacy of P. histicola supplementation are warranted.

Automated summary

The human gut microbiome may influence sleep through the gut-brain axis, but the sleep-promoting effects of gut microbiota are still unclear. In this study, oral administration of probiotic P. histicola in rats increased total sleep, REM sleep, and NREM sleep time. This suggests that P. histicola could be a potential sleep aid.