1.1 Subject Animals:
Under a specific pathogen-free (SPF) condition, the gene knockout (KO) homozygous (-/-) and the hybrid of the wild-type (WT) and the homozygous (+/+) FVB inbreeding mice were donated by Professor B. A. Oostra (Cellular Biology and Genetics Research Center, Erasmus University, Rotterdam, Netherlands) and bred by Experimental Animal Center at The Second Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University [20]. After the approval of the Instiutional Animal Care and Use Committee of The Second Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, this experiment chose three-week-old weaned mice as subjects, divided them into 2 groups: the Fmr1KO group (the control group) and the BF839 group (the intervention group). Each group contained 15 mice, sub-packing them into 3 different cages with 5 mice in one cage. The experiment allowed the BF839 group to drink freely from Bacteroides fragilis BF839 solution for four weeks, while the Fmr1KO group was drinking autoclaved tap water for the same period. The animal behavioral experiments were carried on the subject mice when they were seven to eight weeks old and were last for two weeks from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m..
1.2 The Identification of Experiment Animal's Genotypes:
Before the experiment, all the subject mice were verified by the PCR test, aiming at the genotype of Fmr1 KO and the hybrid of WT and FVB mice to design the proper primer. The designed primer M2 (5′-AGTCATGCTATGGATATCAG-3′) and N2 (5′-TGGGCTCTATGGCTTCTGA-3′) was used for detecting WT mice's Fmr1 allele fragments (amplified size of 468 bp). Refer to the related literature for more information on identifying the genotypes of the experiment animals [20].
1.3The Origins of Bacteroides fragilis BF839:
In this study, Bacteroides fragilis BF839 (Totem probiotics) solutions were provided by DALIAN TOTEM BIOLOGICAL ENGINEERING CO., LTD. Each solution contains 25 mL, with 25 x 108 CFU/ solution viable amount of Bacteroides fragilis BF839. Each two of the solutions were provided to one cage of BF839 group mice per day, last of the duration of four weeks.
1.4 Open Field Test:
Without the lid, a 30 cm tall, 70 cm wide cube box was used as the experimental analysis box. Each mouse was placed in the center of the box one at the time, allowing 5 minutes free movement. Meanwhile, the mouse's trajectory was recorded by a camera with its distance travelled and its staying duration spent at the boundary as well as at the center of the box was tracked by SMART (Smart v 2.5.21; Panlab, Spain). The data collection period would last for 5 minutes each time. The experiment method was drawn from related literature listed in the References section [17, 21, 22, 23].
1.5 Elevated Plus-Maze Test:
The elevated maze was designed in a cruciform structure, consisting of one 50 cm tall stand and four 30 cm long, 5 cm wide arms. Two of the arms on the opposite side were blocked by 15 cm tall partition, creating a closed area. The rest two arms also are on the opposite side were unobstructed, creating an open area. All four arms were connected by a 5 x 5 cm central platform. At the beginning of the test, each mouse was placed in the centre of the platform with a position facing the open are. At each trial, the subject would be allowed to move freely for 5 minutes. A camera would record the trajectory of the subjects and the app SMART was used to record the frequency, distance travelled and duration of staying time for 5 minutes. The experiment method was drawn from related literature listed in the References section [21, 22, 23].
1.6 Three-box Social Interaction Test:
The three transparent plastic boxes were separated into different cells by two clapboards, creating a right, a middle and a left cell. Each cell would have a size of 20 x 40 x 23 cm, with a 6 x 6 cm square entrance open for subjects to enter freely. Before the test, a metal cage would be placed beside the right and left cells. The subject mouse would be put into the middle cell right beside the cell walls for 10 minutes to fit in the environment. In the first phase of the test, the subject mouse was removed from the cells. A sphere was placed at the left cage while a distinct mouse coming from the same cage as the subject mouse was placed in the right cage. The mice were chosen from the same sex on purpose. When everything is settled, the subject would be put back into the middle cell as before and would be allowed to move freely for 10 minutes. In the second phase of the test, the subject mouse would be removed from the three-box environment again and the sphere was removed from the left cell, replaced with a new mouse from the different cage as the subject mouse. The new mouse would have the same sex as the subject mouse. Then the subject mouse would enter the middle cell again to move freely for another 10 minutes. At each phase, the camera would record the trajectory of the subject mouse and the app SMART would be used to record the frequency and duration of time spent at each cage (the contacting area would be 4.0 cm around the cage) for 10 minutes. The experiment method was drawn from related literature listed in the References section [17, 22, 23, 24].
1.7 Pool Maze Test:
The round platform with a diameter of 5 cm and a height of 30 cm was fixed into a round pool with a diameter of 120 cm and a height of 50 cm. The water temperature would be around 21-22°C with the water depth was measured to be 1 cm higher than the platform. The experiment consisted of two phases: the first phase was the positioning navigation phase, following the space exploration phase. In the first phase, the subject was trained four times a day with 30 seconds breaks between each training for four days. The escape latency was defined as the period when the subject entered the pool until it successfully climbs up on the platform. The escape latency was recorded in order as the subject entered the pool from different quadrants. A camera was recording the trajectory of the subject and the app SMART was used to record the subject's escape latency. The average data of the escape latency of the 4 pieces of training would be noted as a final grade of the day. If the subject fails to figure out the location of the platform within 60 seconds, the subject would be guided to the platform and stranded for 10 seconds and its escape latency would be recorded as 60 seconds. In the space exploration phase, the platform would be removed on the fifth day, and the subject would be placed at the opposite quadrant to the original ones. A camera was recording the trajectory of the subject and the app SMART was used to record and analyze how many times did the subject mouse pass through the invisible platform. After each trial, the subject mouse would be removed from the experimental setting and be properly dried before putting back to the cage. The experiment method was drawn from related literature listed in the References section [21].
1.8 Statistical Analysis:
All data collected from this study would be analyzed by SPSS 17.0 statistics software and would be presented as (x ± s). According to the normality and the homogeneity of the variance of the data, the two-sided independent sample t-test or nonparametric test was used for comparison between two groups. The repeated-measures ANOVA was demonstrated to compare and analyze the escape latency from the positioning navigation stage groups. The data would be considered as statistically significant when *p<0.05, **p<0.01, ***p<0.001.