Exogenous GABA Alleviates Tourette Syndrome-Like Behavior in Sprague-Dawley Rats

Quote from the abstract of the paper:

Results: The results showed that a 4-week GABA treatment alleviated TS-like behavior in rats.

GABA treatment led to an increase in Acinetobacter and other beneficial bacteria.

GABA also significantly upregulated 15 striatal metabolites compared with TS group.

By correlation analysis of striatal metabolites and intestinal bacteria, statistical analysis showed that Clostridium_sensu_stricto_1 was negatively correlated with metabolites on the top 20 differential gut microbiota and metabolites.

Moreover, changes in gut microbiota correlated with alterations in striatal metabolites, suggesting a gut-brain axis involvement.

Conclusion: Exogenous GABA alleviated TS-like behavior in rats by reducing harmful gut flora and modulating striatal GABA-glutamate metabolism.

Despite challenges like low blood-brain barrier permeability and dose safety in humans, GABA’s therapeutic potential may be realized through prodrug development and optimized dosing. These findings are preliminary and require further clinical validation"