The involvement of the microbiota-gut-brain axis in the pathophysiology of mood disorders and therapeutic implications

Abstract

Introduction: There is a growing body of evidence implicating gut-brain axis dysfunction in the pathophysiology of mood disorders. Accordingly, gut microbiota has become a promising target for the development of biomarkers and novel therapeutics for bipolar and depressive disorders.

Areas covered: We describe the observed changes in the gut microbiota of patients with mood disorders and discuss the available studies assessing microbiota-based strategies for their treatment.

Expert opinion: Microbiota-targeted interventions, such as symbiotics, prebiotics, paraprobiotics, and fecal microbiota transplants seem to attenuate the severity of depressive symptoms. The available results must be seen as preliminary and need to be replicated and/or confirmed in larger and independent studies, also considering the pathophysiological and clinical heterogeneity of mood disorders.

Keywords: Brain-gut axis; Mood disorder; bipolar disorder; depression; mental health; microbiota; psychiatry.