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Updated review of research on the gut microbiota and their relation to depression in animals and human beings

Molecular Psychiatry volume 25, pages 2759–2772 (2020)Cite this article

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Abstract

The gut microbiota are being called the human “second brain,” as they play a key role in the regulation of the central nervous system (CNS). Recent findings provide strong evidence for the presence of bidirectional communication networks between the gut microbiota and the CNS, and such crosstalk has been correlated with alterations in major depressive disorder (MDD) and other psychiatric disorders. Further, germ-free animal models have been used to investigate the effect of the microbiota on MDD and other psychiatric disorders, which have greatly expanded our knowledge of the role of the microbiota in the etiology of MDD and promoted causality studies of this psychiatric disorder and others as well. In this review, we first introduce the methodological approaches used for microbiota research and then provide an overview of current research progress on the modulatory function and composition of the gut microbiota in MDD and the therapeutic effect of probiotics that has been gained using data from human studies as well as animal experiments. Future research should focus on identification and characterization of specific bacterial strains involved in MDD with the hope of applying these findings in the prevention and treatment of MDD.

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Fig. 1: Overview of main steps involved in microbiome data analysis.
Fig. 2: Bidirectional communication pathways between brain and gut microbes.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Dr David Bronson for his excellent editing of this work. The preparation of this review was supported by the China Precision Medicine Initiative (2016YFC0906300), Research Center for Air Pollution and Health of Zhejiang University and State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases of the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University.

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  1. These authors contributed equally: Zhongli Yang, Jingjing Li

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  1. State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, National Clinical Research Center for Infectious Diseases, Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University College of Medicine, Hangzhou, China

    Zhongli Yang, Jingjing Li, Xiaohua Gui, Xiaoqiang Shi, Zhiwei Bao, Haijun Han & Ming D. Li

  2. Research Center for Air Pollution and Health, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China

    Ming D. Li

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Yang, Z., Li, J., Gui, X. et al. Updated review of research on the gut microbiota and their relation to depression in animals and human beings. Mol Psychiatry 25, 2759–2772 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-020-0729-1

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