Deparment of Neurosurgery, Guizhou Provincial People's Hospital, 550000, Guiyang, Guizhou Province, China.
Department of Neurology, Affiliated Hospital of Guizhou Medical University, 550004, Guiyang, Guizhou Province, China.
Transl Psychiatry. 2020 Oct 16;10(1):350. doi: 10.1038/s41398-020-01038-3.
Mounting evidence suggests that gut microbiota can play an important role in pathophysiology of depression, but its specific molecular mechanisms are still unclear. This study was conducted to explore the associations between changes in neurotransmitters and short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) and altered gut microbiota in depressed mice. Here, the chronic restraint stress (CRS) model of depression was built. The classical behavioral tests were conducted to assess the depressive-like behaviors of mice. The 16S rRNA gene sequence extracted from fecal samples was used to assess the gut microbial composition. Liquid and gas chromatography mass spectroscopy were used to identify neurotransmitters in hypothalamus and SCFAs in fecal samples, respectively. Finally, 29 differential bacteria taxa between depressed mice and control mice were identified, and the most differentially abundant bacteria taxa were genus Allobaculum and family Ruminococcaceae between the two groups. The acetic acid, propionic acid, pentanoic acid, norepinephrine, 5-HIAA and 5-HT were significantly decreased in depressed mice compared to control mice. Genus Allobaculum was found to be significantly positively correlated with acetic acid and 5-HT. Taken together, these results provided novel microbial and metabolic frameworks for understanding the role of microbiota-gut-brain axis in depression, and suggested new insights to pave the way for novel therapeutic methods.
越来越多的证据表明，肠道微生物群在抑郁症的病理生理学中可能发挥重要作用，但具体的分子机制仍不清楚。本研究旨在探讨抑郁小鼠中神经递质和短链脂肪酸 (SCFA) 的变化与肠道微生物群改变之间的关联。在这里，建立了慢性束缚应激 (CRS) 抑郁症模型。进行经典行为测试以评估小鼠的抑郁样行为。从粪便样本中提取 16S rRNA 基因序列，用于评估肠道微生物组成。使用液质联用和气质联用分别鉴定下丘脑神经递质和粪便中 SCFA。最后，鉴定出 29 种差异细菌类群，两组间差异最显著的细菌类群是 Allobaculum 属和 Ruminococcaceae 科。与对照组相比，抑郁组小鼠的醋酸、丙酸、戊酸、去甲肾上腺素、5-HIAA 和 5-HT 明显降低。Allobaculum 属与醋酸和 5-HT 呈显著正相关。总之，这些结果为理解微生物群-肠道-大脑轴在抑郁症中的作用提供了新的微生物和代谢框架，并为新的治疗方法提供了新的见解。
