ArticleThe ISME journal2020
Coprophagy prevention alters microbiome, metabolism, neurochemistry, and cognitive behavior in a small mammal.
Article in The ISME journal, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 68 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
68 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 110 citations in OpenAlex.
- Intraspecific Trait Variation in the Mammalian Gastrointestinal Tract: A Digestive Dive and Systematic Literature Review.Integrative and comparative biology · 2026Pooled it
- Gut Microbial Community and Host Thermoregulation in Small Mammals.Frontiers in physiology · 2022Pooled it
- Animal gut microbes and microbiomes in the 21st century and beyond.Science China. Life sciences · 2026Review
- Proteomic responses to the effect of coprophagy prevention on meat quality in New Zealand white rabbits.Food chemistry. Molecular sciences · 2026Article
- Mapping the canine gut microbiome: insights from the Dog Aging Project.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Coprophagy Couples Hindgut Fermentation with Multi-Site Microbial Organization in Brandt's Vole.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2026Article
- Early-Life Iron Exposure Influences Long-Term Gut Microbiota Recovery After Intestinal Dysbiosis.Microorganisms · 2026Article
- Development of gut microbiota composition in captive Asian elephants: a year-long analysis.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Faecal sac energy in common swifts (Apus apus) as a function of mass and nest identity.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Microbially derived essential amino acids compensate for dietary deficiencies in an ecologically relevant mammalian host.The ISME journal · 2026Article
- Gut microbiota preserves bone mass through modulating the hyodeoxycholic acid-TGR5 axis.Gut microbes · 2025Article
- Ontogeny of Diet and Behavior of a Wild, Critically Endangered Lemur (Indri indri).American journal of primatology · 2025Article
- Gut microbiota and microbial metabolites for osteoporosis.Gut microbes · 2025Review
- Contamination-controlled upper gastrointestinal microbiota profiling reveals salivary-duodenal community types linked to opportunistic pathogen carriage and inflammation.Gut microbes · 2025Article
- Coprophagy prevention interfered with intestinal barrier, lipid metabolism, and immune performance in rabbits via microbe-gut-liver axis.Animal microbiome · 2025Article
- Guidelines for diet-induced models of cardiometabolic syndrome.American journal of physiology. Heart and circulatory physiology · 2025Review
- Gut microbial contributions to thermogenesis.The Journal of experimental biology · 2025Review
- Effects of Different Levels of Flea Infestation on Gut Microbiota of Brandt's Voles (Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2025Article
- Experimental evolution of a mammalian holobiont: bank voles selected for herbivorous capability evolved distinct and robust gut bacterial communities.ISME communications · 2025Article
- Gestational exposure to HIV drugs alters intestinal mucosa-associated microbial diversity in adult rat offspring.Experimental biology and medicine (Maywood, N.J.) · 2025Article
8 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Many small mammals engage in coprophagy, or the behavior of consuming feces, as a means to meet nutritional requirements when feeding on low-quality foods. In addition to nutritional benefits, coprophagy may also help herbivores retain necessary gut microbial diversity and function, which may have downstream physiological effects, such as maintaining energy balance and cognitive function. Here, we used collars to prevent Brandt's vole (Lasiopodomys brandtii) from engaging in coprophagy and monitored changes in microbial community structure, energy metabolism, and cognitive performance. In this research, we found that coprophagy prevention decreased alpha diversity of the gut microbiota, and altered proportions of microbial taxa such as Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes, and Oscillospira. Preventing coprophagy resulted in a reduced body mass, and increased food intake. Importantly, coprophagy prevention decreased vole cognitive behavior and altered levels of neurotransmitters in brain. Daily acetate administration was able to reverse some of the coprophagy prevention-induced changes in microbiota composition, metabolism, neurochemistry, and cognitive behavior. These findings identify the functional importance of coprophagy behavior and interactions between the gut microbiota, energy metabolism, and neurological function. Our results suggest that coprophagy contributes to stabilizing the gut microbiota, promoting microbial metabolism, maintaining host energy balance and, consequently, altering cognitive performance.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.