Nel Nikita H, Marafie Anfal, Bassis Christine M, Sugino Kameron Y, Nzerem Adannaya, Knickmeyer Rebecca R, McKee Kimberly S, Comstock Sarah S
Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, Michigan State University, 204 Trout, 469 Wilson Rd, East Lansing, MI 48824, United States of America.
College of Human Medicine, Michigan State University, United States of America.
J Affect Disord. 2025 Feb 15;371:22-35. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2024.10.086. Epub 2024 Oct 30.
Prenatal and postpartum depression may be influenced by the composition of host associated microbiomes. As such, the objective of this study was to elucidate the relationship between the human gut or vaginal microbiomes in pregnancy with prenatal or postpartum depression.
140 female participants were recruited at their first prenatal visit and completed the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) to screen for depression and anxiety, in addition the EPDS was completed one month postpartum. Vaginal and stool biospecimens were collected in the third trimester, analyzed using 16S rRNA gene sequencing, and assessed for alpha and beta diversity. Individual taxa differences and clustering using the k-medoids algorithm enabled community state type classification.
Participants with higher postpartum EPDS scores had higher species richness and lower abundance of L. crispatus in the vaginal microbiota compared to those with lower EPDS scores. Participants with a higher prenatal EPDS score had lower species richness of the gut microbiome. Participants with a vaginal community state type dominated by L. iners had the highest mean prenatal EPDS scores, whereas postpartum EPDS scores were similar regardless of prenatal vaginal state type.
Our small sample size and participant's self-report bias limits generalizability of results.
Depression in the prenatal and postpartum period is associated with the composition and diversity of the gut and vaginal microbiomes in the third trimester of pregnancy. These results provide a foundational understanding of the microbial relationships between maternal health and depression for identifying potential therapeutic treatments.
产前和产后抑郁症可能受宿主相关微生物群组成的影响。因此，本研究的目的是阐明孕期人类肠道或阴道微生物群与产前或产后抑郁症之间的关系。
140名女性参与者在首次产前检查时被招募，并完成爱丁堡产后抑郁量表（EPDS）以筛查抑郁和焦虑，此外，产后1个月时再次完成EPDS。在孕晚期收集阴道和粪便生物样本，使用16S rRNA基因测序进行分析，并评估α和β多样性。使用k-中心点算法进行个体分类群差异分析和聚类，以实现群落状态类型分类。
与产后EPDS得分较低的参与者相比，产后EPDS得分较高的参与者阴道微生物群中的物种丰富度更高，卷曲乳酸杆菌的丰度更低。产前EPDS得分较高的参与者肠道微生物群的物种丰富度较低。以惰性乳杆菌为主导的阴道群落状态类型的参与者产前EPDS平均得分最高，而产后EPDS得分无论产前阴道状态类型如何均相似。
我们的样本量较小以及参与者的自我报告偏差限制了结果的普遍性。
产前和产后抑郁症与妊娠晚期肠道和阴道微生物群的组成及多样性相关。这些结果为理解孕产妇健康与抑郁症之间的微生物关系提供了基础，有助于确定潜在的治疗方法。
