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Researchers have discovered that naturally occurring gut microbes produce indoles—compounds that play a key role in regulating anxiety-related brain activity, according to a February 17 2025 SciTech Daily report. Many gut microbes produce indole, including Escherichia coli, Bacteroides,Clostridium, Bifidobacterium, and Lactobacillus.

 

This discovery is based on research by scientists at Duke-NUS Medical School and the National Neuroscience Institute in their newly published study in EMBO Molecular Medicine. The basolateral amygdala (BLA) is the brain region that processes emotions such as fear and anxiety.

 

The study found that the when the body and brain are exposed to live microbe metabolites, the SK2 channels prevent neurons from over-excitement, according to Sci-Tech Daily.

 

Professor Sven Pettersen, Singapore National Neuroscience Institute, believes it opens the therapeutic potential of targeting the gut-brain axis to treat anxiety-related disorders by restoring the microbe composition through dietary supplementation with indoles or by introducing indole-producing gut microbes as probiotics.

 

The SK2 channels, or small conductance calcium-activated potassium channels, are a type of potassium channel that regulates neuronal excitability.

 

Wikipedia further explains that their “activation limits the firing frequency and helps regulate hyper- polarization in the neurons of the central nervous system.

 

Researchers know that Akkermansia muciniphila (AM) feeds on sugar found in the mucus digestive system. Dr. Lucy Crouch of University of Birmingham led a pig model focused on 66 enzymes that the AM microbe uses to break down mucus that is an essential part of the mucus layer lining the human gastrointestinal tract.

 

Dr. Crouch and her team found that a combination of enzymes from AM were able to completely break down the mucin, the first understanding of the molecular mechanisms behind how a microbe breaks down sugars.

 
These microbes completely break down the glycan part of mucin, a receptor for a number of pathogens. These newly characterized enzymes may be used in characterizing the different glycans that humans produce, which can be indicative of disease.

 

“AM is a hugely important microbe, and levels of the microbe can be a good indicator of overall health,” adds Dr. Crouch.