Ketogenic diet enhances neurovascular function with altered gut microbiome in young healthy mice

Neurovascular integrity, including cerebral blood flow (CBF) and blood-brain barrier (BBB) function, plays a major role in determining cognitive capability. Recent studies suggest that neurovascular integrity could be regulated by the gut microbiome. The purpose of the study was to identify if ketogenic diet (KD) intervention would alter gut microbiome and enhance neurovascular functions, and thus reduce risk for neurodegeneration in young healthy mice (12-14 weeks old). Here we show that with 16 weeks of KD, mice had significant increases in CBF and P-glycoprotein transports on BBB to facilitate clearance of amyloid-beta, a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease (AD). These neurovascular enhancements were associated with reduced mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) and increased endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) protein expressions. KD also increased the relative abundance of putatively beneficial gut microbiota (Akkermansia muciniphila and Lactobacillus), and reduced that of putatively pro-inflammatory taxa (Desulfovibrio and Turicibacter). We also observed that KD reduced blood glucose levels and body weight, and increased blood ketone levels, which might be associated with gut microbiome alteration. Our findings suggest that KD intervention started in the early stage may enhance brain vascular function, increase beneficial gut microbiota, improve metabolic profile, and reduce risk for AD.