Mood and behavior - "a kick in the gut"
Nov
3
From the current findings in patients with major depressive disorders (MDD), sixteen studies analyzed by the NIH found increased levels of the following microbiota - phylum Actinobacteria, Bacteroidales (order), Enterobacteriaceae (family), Alistipes (genus) and Lachnospiraceae (deceased family), Faecalibacterium (genus) - which were associated with depression in most studies. However, the change of Bacteroidetes was not consistent among these studies, while the others were more consistent, according to the February 19, 2019 report.
While many antidepressants work to increase levels of serotonin in our brain, other neurotransmitters such as dopamine, norepinephrine, acetylcholine, and GABA, play a major role in our mood, anxiety, concentration, reward, and motivation, much of which originate in our gut.
It has been repeatedly demonstrated that manipulation of the gut microbiome modulates anxiety-like behaviours, and our response to fear. The neural circuits that underlie anxiety- and fear-related behaviours are complex and heavily depend on functional communication between the amygdala and prefrontal cortex (PFC). Research at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) found a link between our stomach and a region of our brain that regulates mood and behavior, according to IFLScience.com’s Robin Andrews (Source: “Our Gut Microbes Strongly Influence Our Emotional Behaviors,” IFL Science, July 4, 2017). The UCLA study was the first to link this connection within humans, based on the study of 40 healthy woman showing “brain-gut-microbial interactions in healthy humans”, according to the American Psychosomatic Society, affecting their mood and behaviors. Women who consumed fermented probiotic yogurt demonstrated calm in their brain activity while the base group who did not, demonstrated the opposite hyper brain activity for the same emotional task.
Likewise, the Microbiome Journal reports that “transcriptional networks within the amygdala and PFC of Germ-Free mice are altered. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) act through translational repression to control gene translation and have been implicated in anxiety-like behaviours.” (See Microbiome Journal, August 25, 2017; https://microbiomejournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40168-017-0321-3). These results suggest that the microbiome is necessary for appropriate regulation of mRNA expression in brain regions implicated in anxiety-like behaviors.
Youtube videos on gut microbiome's connection to depression:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mioR_WrkRaU
https://m.youtube.com/watch?fbclid=IwAR0TQ2RPEyqorS_J5CvIYro36uutD_fmL7B4_blSEouzxX9RvlmRz9IPtc8&feature=share&v=qDT_azt_Ek8
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