{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,18]],"date-time":"2026-03-18T13:36:48Z","timestamp":1773841008552,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":33,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,2,1]],"date-time":"2025-02-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1738368000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100000002","name":"National Institutes of Health","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["R42NS119119"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["R42NS119119"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100000002","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/100000002","name":"National Institutes of Health","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["R01NS115942"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["R01NS115942"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100000002","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/100000002","name":"National Institutes of Health","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["4100088558"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["4100088558"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100000002","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"name":"TSF CURE","award":["R42NS119119"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["R42NS119119"]}]},{"name":"TSF CURE","award":["R01NS115942"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["R01NS115942"]}]},{"name":"TSF CURE","award":["4100088558"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["4100088558"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Microorganisms"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) results in a constellation of symptoms commonly referred to as a concussion. It is unclear why certain individuals experience persistent symptoms. Given the growing evidence linking the microbiome with cognition and inflammation, we examined whether longitudinal microbiome patterns were associated with concussion symptoms. A cohort study of 118 children (aged 7\u201321 years) was conducted. Symptoms were assessed at three timepoints post-injury (4, 11, and 30 days) using the Post-Concussion Symptom Inventory. Saliva microbial activity was measured at each timepoint using RNA sequencing. A linear mixed model assessed the relationship between microbial activity and symptom burden while controlling for age, sex, and days post-mTBI. The participants\u2019 mean age was 16 (\u00b13) years. The symptom burden decreased across all three timepoints (25 \u00b1 22, 13 \u00b1 17, and 5 \u00b1 12). The longitudinal symptom burden was associated with elevated activity of Lactobacillus (F = 5.47; adj. p = 0.020) and Saccharomyces (F = 6.79; adj. p = 0.020) and reduced activity of Micrococcus (F = 7.94, adj. p = 0.015). These results do not establish a causative relationship, or support the use of microbial measures as a concussion test. Further studies are needed to explore the role of the gut\u2013brain axis in mTBI.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/microorganisms13020320","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,2,3]],"date-time":"2025-02-03T08:47:57Z","timestamp":1738572477000},"page":"320","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Association of Longitudinal Oral Microbiome Activity and Pediatric Concussion Recovery"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"13","author":[{"given":"Justin","family":"Ceasar","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Internal Medicine, Allegheny General Hospital, 320 E North Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15212, USA"},{"name":"Department of Pediatrics, The Pennsylvania State College of Medicine, 700 HMC Cres Rd, Hershey, PA 17033, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Deepika","family":"Pugalenthi Saravanan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pediatrics, The Pennsylvania State College of Medicine, 700 HMC Cres Rd, Hershey, PA 17033, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0002-3292-688X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Brennen A.","family":"Harding","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pediatrics, The Pennsylvania State College of Medicine, 700 HMC Cres Rd, Hershey, PA 17033, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9579-6798","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Steven D.","family":"Hicks","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pediatrics, The Pennsylvania State College of Medicine, 700 HMC Cres Rd, Hershey, PA 17033, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,2,1]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"(2024, December 19). 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