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Hydroxytyrosol Mitigates Anxiety-Like Behaviors After a Traumatic Experience in Aged Mice in Parallel With Increased Neurogenesis in the Ventral and Dorsal Dentate Gyrus, and Preservation of Gut Microbiota Composition.

A correction to this paper has been published: the notice, 42135991, from Europe PMC.

Overview

Authors: Giorgio D'Andrea1, Laura Bertini2, Marco Costanzi3, Fabiana Canini2, Roberta Bernini4, Andrea Fochetti4, Mariangela Clemente4, Silvia Proietti2, Manuela Ceccarelli1,5, Carla Caruso2,6, Maurizia Caruso1, Ferdinando Scavizzi7, Marcello Raspa7, Felice Tirone1, Laura Micheli1
  1. Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology (IBBC), National Research Council of Italy (CNR), Rome, Italy
  2. Department of Ecological and Biological Sciences, University of Tuscia, Viterbo, Italy
  3. Department of Human Sciences, LUMSA University, Rome, Italy
  4. Department of Agriculture and Forest Sciences (DAFNE), University of Tuscia, Viterbo, Italy
  5. Onco‐Hematology, Cell Therapy, Gene Therapies and Hemopoietic Transplant, Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital IRCCS, Rome, Italy
  6. Institute for Sustainable Plant Protection, National Research Council of Italy, Torino, Italy
  7. Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, National Research Council of Italy (IBBC‐CNR/EMMA/INFRAFRONTIER/IMPC), Rome, Italy
Journal: Journal of neurochemistry, volume 170, issue 5, article e70448
Dates: received 8 August 2025; accepted 14 April 2026; published online 30 April 2026; in print May 2026
Type: Research article · Language: English
License: CC BY
Identifiers: DOI 10.1111/jnc.70448 · PMID 42059580 · PMCID PMC13131041 · OpenAlex W7158570618
Open access: hybrid, a free copy (OpenAlex)
Status: data only
Categories: mouse (organism), other condition (population), developmental (subfield)
Methods: Statistics, Machine learning, Spectral & time-frequency, fMRI & imaging
Keywords: aging, hydroxytyrosol, microbiota‐gut‐brain axis, neurogenesis, olive oil, post‐traumatic stress disorder
MeSH: Aging*, Anxiety*, Dentate Gyrus*, Gastrointestinal Microbiome*, Neurogenesis*, Phenylethyl Alcohol*, Animals, Behavior, Animal, Male, Mice, Mice, Inbred C57BL (* major topic)
Topic: Neurogenesis and neuroplasticity mechanisms (Developmental Neuroscience, Neuroscience), according to OpenAlex
Funding: Fondazione Adriano Buzzati-Traverso grant 2020-2024 (CNR project DSB.AD004.317); POR FESR Lazio 2014-2020 "Progetti Gruppi di Ricerca 2020" Regione Lazio (A0375-2020-36407 (CNR project DSB.AD004.367)); Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche FOE 2021 NUTRAGE project (CNR project DBA.AD005.225); Associazione per le Neuroscienze Giuseppe Moruzzi (CNR project DSB.AD004.514)
Citations: cited by 2 papers (Europe PMC); 141 references in the paper
Notices: A correction to this paper has been published (42135991, from Europe PMC)

Abstract

Hydroxytyrosol (HTyr), a phenolic compound present in olive oil, exhibits antioxidant, anti‐inflammatory, and neuroprotective properties, benefiting several age‐related diseases. Our previous research demonstrated that oral HTyr administration counteracts age‐associated neurogenesis decline in the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus by promoting the production of stem/progenitor cells and new neurons. Since new neurons generated in the dorsal dentate gyrus support contextual memory discrimination, while those generated in the ventral region modulate anxiety, we investigated whether pure HTyr, synthesized in our laboratories, selectively stimulates neurogenesis in these regions in aging mice and evaluated its effects on contextual memory and stress response. Furthermore, we examined its influence on gut microbiota composition, given the well‐established role of the microbiota‐gut‐brain axis in memory and stress regulation. We found that HTyr induced the production of new neurons and neuroblasts in both dentate gyrus regions, with a prevalent effect in the ventral region. Consistently, we observed that HTyr treatment did not improve the contextual memory discrimination but reduced fear sensitization and anxiety‐like behavior after a traumatic experience. Furthermore, we observed a reduction of neuroinflammation in HTyr‐treated dentate gyri. In parallel, treatment with HTyr preserved the stability of key microbial families linked to intestinal well‐being, counteracting the unhealthy effects of stress on gut microbial structure. Our results suggest that HTyr treatment in aging mice enhances resilience to posttraumatic stress by increasing neurogenesis and modulating the microbiota‐gut‐brain axis. Future studies should explore its potential as a therapeutic intervention for individuals experiencing posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms.

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.

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Data

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Data Availability Statement

The data of immunofluorescence and of behavioral tests generated and analyzed during this study are included in this article and its Supporting Information files. The raw data are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request. Moreover, all relevant NMR spectral data can be provided upon request. The data that support the findings of the microbiota analysis are openly available in NCBI Sequence Read Archive (SRA), at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sra/PRJNA1290279, Bioproject PRJNA1290279.

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.

Versions

The history of this record: each version stored by the harvester or made by a correction of its authors or of the maintainers of its code, and what changed in its facts. The texts of the paper (its abstract, its availability statements) are not part of it; versions that changed only those are not listed.

Version 2, 28 September 2026

  • Publisher: n/a → Wiley

Version 1, 27 September 2026: the first record

Recorded: type, language, journal, volume, issue, pages, dates, 15 authors, 6 keywords, 11 MeSH terms, 4 funders, 140 references, 25 RRIDs, 1 integrity notice.

Cite

This paper

D'Andrea, G., Bertini, L., Costanzi, M., Canini, F., Bernini, R., Fochetti, A., Clemente, M., Proietti, S., Ceccarelli, M., Caruso, C., Caruso, M., Scavizzi, F., Raspa, M., Tirone, F., & Micheli, L. (2026). Hydroxytyrosol Mitigates Anxiety-Like Behaviors After a Traumatic Experience in Aged Mice in Parallel With Increased Neurogenesis in the Ventral and Dorsal Dentate Gyrus, and Preservation of Gut Microbiota Composition. Journal of neurochemistry, 170(5), e70448. https://doi.org/10.1111/jnc.70448

BibTeX

@article{dandrea2026hydroxytyrosol,
author = {D'Andrea, Giorgio and Bertini, Laura and Costanzi, Marco and Canini, Fabiana and Bernini, Roberta and Fochetti, Andrea and Clemente, Mariangela and Proietti, Silvia and Ceccarelli, Manuela and Caruso, Carla and Caruso, Maurizia and Scavizzi, Ferdinando and Raspa, Marcello and Tirone, Felice and Micheli, Laura},
title = {{Hydroxytyrosol Mitigates Anxiety-Like Behaviors After a Traumatic Experience in Aged Mice in Parallel With Increased Neurogenesis in the Ventral and Dorsal Dentate Gyrus, and Preservation of Gut Microbiota Composition}},
journal = {Journal of neurochemistry},
year = {2026},
month = may,
volume = {170},
number = {5},
pages = {e70448},
publisher = {Wiley},
issn = {0022-3042},
doi = {10.1111/jnc.70448},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1111/jnc.70448},
pmid = {42059580},
pmcid = {PMC13131041}
}

RIS

TY - JOUR
AU - D'Andrea, Giorgio
AU - Bertini, Laura
AU - Costanzi, Marco
AU - Canini, Fabiana
AU - Bernini, Roberta
AU - Fochetti, Andrea
AU - Clemente, Mariangela
AU - Proietti, Silvia
AU - Ceccarelli, Manuela
AU - Caruso, Carla
AU - Caruso, Maurizia
AU - Scavizzi, Ferdinando
AU - Raspa, Marcello
AU - Tirone, Felice
AU - Micheli, Laura
TI - Hydroxytyrosol Mitigates Anxiety-Like Behaviors After a Traumatic Experience in Aged Mice in Parallel With Increased Neurogenesis in the Ventral and Dorsal Dentate Gyrus, and Preservation of Gut Microbiota Composition
T2 - Journal of neurochemistry
J2 - J Neurochem
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/05/01
VL - 170
IS - 5
SP - e70448
SN - 0022-3042
PB - Wiley
DO - 10.1111/jnc.70448
UR - https://doi.org/10.1111/jnc.70448
LA - en
ER -

CSL-JSON

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