As researchers delve deeper into the realm of gut microbiota to better understand the behavior of the human body, the latest scientific development shows a glimmer of hope for mental health conditions, as a new study has found there's a link between depression and bacteria in the stomach that could ultimately lead to new ways to treat this condition.
A new study from McMaster University has shown that there may be such a thing as depression bacteria, after trials with mice showed that, when faced with major stress, leading the rodents to show sing to both depression and anxiety, their microbiota composition changed.
According to The Inquisitr, the experiment that led to the depression bacteria conclusion was thus: mice were exposed to early life stress through maternal separation, as researchers distanced baby mice from their mothers (from 3 to 21 days of age) for three hours a day, then returned; the mice then showed abnormally high levels of the hormone corticosterone (which calms anxieties) as well as a disruption in acetylcholine (a neurotransmitter thought to be the primary cause of depression).
The depression bacteria acts out after neonatal psychological trauma increases disturbed gut function as well as stress in the body, which changes gut bacteria, therefore interrupting how the brain properly functions; in all, leading to depression.
Science Daily reports that the depression bacteria study was recently published at the Nature Communications Journal, under the name "Microbiota and host determinants of behavioural phenotype in maternally separated mice."
According to Medical News Today, this McMaster University study, the first of its kind with this particular subject, follows a recent trend where scientists take a closer look at the link between gut bacteria and health, and this has already led to interesting discoveries such as how microbiota influences conditions such as Parkinson's disease as well as weight.
The next round of experiments regarding the depression bacteria is aimed at humans to see whether this also applies to people.
