Therapeutic potential of heat-killed Enterococcus faecalis (EC-12) Para-Probiotic in reversing maternal separation-triggered social deficit in Mice

Maternal separation (MS) stress in early life was established as a model of triggering lifelong mental disorders. It can disrupt the gut-brain axis (GBA) and induce neurobiological illnesses in the adult stage. Diverse probiotics were utilized to reverse the encountered alterations. However, the employment of heat-killed Enterococcus faecalis (EC-12) to reverse the psychological abnormalities following MS has not been investigated yet. Hence, we aim to study the effectiveness of EC-12 as a potential therapy for MS mice. Our study illustrates the potential use of heat-killed EC-12 as a novel Para-Probiotic that could reverse the social abnormalities induced at the adult stage by exposure to MS in early life.