Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, The University of Melbourne, VIC, Australia; Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre, The University of Melbourne and Melbourne Health, VIC, Australia.
Orygen, The National Centre of Excellence in Youth Mental Health; Centre for Youth Mental Health, The University of Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
J Affect Disord. 2020 Sep 1;274:73-75. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2020.05.115. Epub 2020 May 23.
A large number of existing reviews have discussed the role of the gut microbiota in affective disorders, though syntheses have been overwhelmingly narrative in their focus.
In this correspondence, we compliment Sanada et al. (2020) on their recent systematic review of the gut microbiota in Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), the first to incorporate a meta-analysis. We also comment on how this synthesis should be extended in future research.
Sanada et al. (2020) conducted a meta-analysis of alpha diversity in participants with MDD compared to controls, whereby they unexpectedly observed no significant difference between groups. A meta-analysis was only able to be performed on alpha diversity indices. Future research should consider research quality, other forms of depression, incorporate comprehensive meta-analyses, where possible, as well as investigate associations between anxiety/depression symptom measures and the gut microbiota.
Further consideration of papers which incorporate functional analyses (e.g., metabolomics) is required to integrate this body of literature.
Research investigating the microbiota-gut-brain axis in affective disorders has been met with great enthusiasm, offering promising direction for novel therapeutics in conditions such as depression. We encourage further systematic reviews in this space, particularly which consider research quality and incorporate comprehensive meta-analyses.
大量现有的综述已经讨论了肠道微生物群在情感障碍中的作用，尽管综合分析主要是叙述性的。
在这封通信中，我们赞扬 Sanada 等人（2020 年）最近对重度抑郁症（MDD）中的肠道微生物群进行的系统评价，这是第一个纳入荟萃分析的研究。我们还评论了在未来的研究中应该如何扩展这一综合分析。
Sanada 等人（2020 年）对 MDD 患者与对照组的 alpha 多样性进行了荟萃分析，他们出人意料地发现两组之间没有显著差异。仅对 alpha 多样性指数进行了荟萃分析。未来的研究应考虑研究质量、其他形式的抑郁症、尽可能纳入综合荟萃分析，并研究焦虑/抑郁症状测量与肠道微生物群之间的关联。
需要进一步考虑纳入功能分析（例如代谢组学）的论文，以整合这一文献。
研究情感障碍中的微生物群-肠道-大脑轴受到了极大的关注，为抑郁症等疾病的新型治疗方法提供了有前途的方向。我们鼓励在这一领域进行进一步的系统评价，特别是那些考虑研究质量并纳入综合荟萃分析的研究。
