Jia Wenbao, Tang Qian, Zou Yao, Yang Yang, Wu Wenliang, Xu Wei
College of Horticulture, Tea Refining and Innovation Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, China.
Tea Research Institute, Hunan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Changsha, Hunan, China.
Front Microbiol. 2023 Aug 24;14:1256142. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2023.1256142. eCollection 2023.
Some studies have shown the effectiveness of tea in reducing depression. Gut flora dysfunction is strongly associated with depression. The mechanism by which Ziyan green tea ameliorates depression is not clear.
In this study, we examined the impact of Ziyan green tea on mice exhibiting symptoms similar to depression. We specifically focused on the role of intestinal flora and its metabolites. We first established a chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS) mouse model to induce depressive symptoms and conducted behavioural tests, biochemical tests, and pathological tissue analysis. We also investigated gut microbiota changes by 16S rRNA sequencing and measured faecal metabolites in mice using UHPLC-MS/MS.
The results showed that Ziyan green tea intervention improved depression-like behaviour, neurobiochemical factors, and reduced levels of pro-inflammatory factors in CUMS mice. Spearman's correlation analysis showed that different microbial communities (, , , ) correlation with differential metabolites (Cholic acid, Deoxycholic acid, etc.) and depression-related biochemical indicators (5-HT, DA, BDNF, IL-6, and TNF-α).
In conclusion, our findings suggest that both low and high-dose interventions of Ziyan green tea have positive preventive effects on CUMS mice without dose dependence, partly because they mainly affect intestinal Purine Metabolism, Bile Acid Biosynthesis and Cysteine Metabolism in CUMS mice, thus stimulating brain 5-HT, DA and BDNF, and decreasing the inflammatory factors IL-6, TNF-α, activate the composition of intestinal flora, improve the intestinal flora environment and thus promote the production of intestinal metabolites, which can be used for depression treatment. It is suggested that Ziyan green tea may achieve an antidepressant effect through the gut-microbiota-brain axis.
一些研究表明茶在减轻抑郁方面具有有效性。肠道菌群功能障碍与抑郁症密切相关。紫嫣绿茶改善抑郁症的机制尚不清楚。
在本研究中，我们研究了紫嫣绿茶对表现出类似抑郁症症状的小鼠的影响。我们特别关注肠道菌群及其代谢产物的作用。我们首先建立了慢性不可预测轻度应激（CUMS）小鼠模型以诱导抑郁症状，并进行行为测试、生化测试和病理组织分析。我们还通过16S rRNA测序研究了肠道微生物群的变化，并使用超高效液相色谱-串联质谱法（UHPLC-MS/MS）测量了小鼠粪便中的代谢产物。
结果表明，紫嫣绿茶干预改善了CUMS小鼠的抑郁样行为、神经生化因子，并降低了促炎因子水平。Spearman相关性分析表明，不同的微生物群落（，，，）与差异代谢产物（胆酸、脱氧胆酸等）和抑郁症相关生化指标（5-羟色胺、多巴胺、脑源性神经营养因子、白细胞介素-6和肿瘤坏死因子-α）相关。
总之，我们的研究结果表明，紫嫣绿茶的低剂量和高剂量干预对CUMS小鼠均具有积极的预防作用，且无剂量依赖性，部分原因是它们主要影响CUMS小鼠的肠道嘌呤代谢、胆汁酸生物合成和半胱氨酸代谢，从而刺激大脑中的5-羟色胺、多巴胺和脑源性神经营养因子，并降低炎症因子白细胞介素-6、肿瘤坏死因子-α，激活肠道菌群的组成，改善肠道菌群环境，从而促进肠道代谢产物的产生，可用于治疗抑郁症。提示紫嫣绿茶可能通过肠-微生物群-脑轴实现抗抑郁作用。
