Depression-associated gut microbes, metabolites and clinical trials

Meiling Wang; Zhaoqi Song; Shirong Lai; Furong Tang; Lijun Dou; Fenglong Yang

doi:10.3389/fmicb.2024.1292004

Depression-associated gut microbes, metabolites and clinical trials

Front Microbiol. 2024 Jan 31:15:1292004. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2024.1292004. eCollection 2024.

Authors

Meiling Wang^#¹, Zhaoqi Song^#¹, Shirong Lai¹, Furong Tang², Lijun Dou³, Fenglong Yang^{1

4}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Bioinformatics, Fujian Key Laboratory of Medical Bioinformatics, School of Medical Technology and Engineering, Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, China.
² Department of Basic Medical Sciences, School of Medicine, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China.
³ Genomic Medicine Institute, Lerner Research Institute, Cleveland, OH, United States.
⁴ Key Laboratory of Ministry of Education for Gastrointestinal Cancer, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, China.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Depression is one of the most prevalent mental disorders today. Over the past decade, there has been considerable attention given to the field of gut microbiota associated with depression. A substantial body of research indicates a bidirectional communication pathway between gut microbiota and the brain. In this review, we extensively detail the correlation between gut microbiota, including Lactobacillus acidophilus and Bifidobacterium longum, and metabolites such as short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) and 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) concerning depression. Furthermore, we delve into the potential health benefits of microbiome-targeted therapies, encompassing probiotics, prebiotics, and synbiotics, in alleviating depression. Lastly, we underscore the importance of employing a constraint-based modeling framework in the era of systems medicine to contextualize metabolomic measurements and integrate multi-omics data. This approach can offer valuable insights into the complex metabolic host-microbiota interactions, enabling personalized recommendations for potential biomarkers, novel drugs, and treatments for depression.

Keywords: clinical trials; depression; gut microbiota; metabolites; pathogenesis.

Publication types

Review

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This research was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [62102065, 62002242, 62271353, 62001311], joint funds for the Innovation of Science and Technology, Fujian Province (grant number: 2022J05055), Fujian Medical University Research Foundation of Talented Scholars [XRCZX2022003] and Natural Science Foundation of Sichuan Province (2022NSFSC0926).