The gut microbiota could play a significant role in the development of psychological problems, such as depression or anxiety. In addition, these microorganisms can alter behavior and be directly involved in disorders such as some types of autism.
The study, carried out by researchers at McMaster University, in Canada, and published in the journal Nature Communications , aimed to explore the role of the more than 100 billion bacteria that populate our digestive tract in the development of psychological problems derived from stress. in the first years of life.
In the mouse experiment, the scientists separated newborn pups from their mothers for three hours a day over two and a half weeks, a practice often used to study the effects of stress early in later years. Researcher Premysl Bercik and his team showed that animals that were subjected to maternal separation from adults developed responses to stress, anxiety, depression and even intestinal problems.
The second step was to carry out the same experiment but this time with mice without microbiota . Thus, they found that the animals also had elevated levels of corticosterone, a stress hormone, and gut dysfunction, as in the first experiment. But as adults, no sign of anxiety or depression. However, when they transferred intestinal bacteria from the mice in the control group to the animals that were stressed and without microbiota, in a few weeks the scientists saw how they began to show anxiety and depressive behaviors , which pointed to the microbiota as a possible trigger for these disorders .
“Neonatal stress leads to increased sensitivity to stress and gut dysfunction that changes the microbiota, which in turn alters brain function, ” Bercik notes. At the moment, this study has been carried out with animals and more research is needed to see if its results are transferable to adults. “Although it is likely that in at least one group of patients with psychiatric disorders bacteria play a key role. If confirmed, then in the future probiotics or specific diets could be used to prevent or improve the consequences of stress in the first years of life ”, concludes the expert.
