TY - JOUR
T1 - A Microbial-Based Approach to Mental Health
T2 - The Potential of Probiotics in the Treatment of Depression
AU - Johnson, Dinyadarshini
AU - Letchumanan, Vengadesh
AU - Thum, Chern Choong
AU - Thurairajasingam, Sivakumar
AU - Lee, Learn Han
PY - 2023/3
Y1 - 2023/3
N2 - Probiotics are currently the subject of intensive research pursuits and also represent a multi-billion-dollar global industry given their vast potential to improve human health. In addition, mental health represents a key domain of healthcare, which currently has limited, adverse-effect prone treatment options, and probiotics may hold the potential to be a novel, customizable treatment for depression. Clinical depression is a common, potentially debilitating condition that may be amenable to a precision psychiatry-based approach utilizing probiotics. Although our understanding has not yet reached a sufficient level, this could be a therapeutic approach that can be tailored for specific individuals with their own unique set of characteristics and health issues. Scientifically, the use of probiotics as a treatment for depression has a valid basis rooted in the microbiota-gut-brain axis (MGBA) mechanisms, which play a role in the pathophysiology of depression. In theory, probiotics appear to be ideal as adjunct therapeutics for major depressive disorder (MDD) and as stand-alone therapeutics for mild MDD and may potentially revolutionize the treatment of depressive disorders. Although there is a wide range of probiotics and an almost limitless range of therapeutic combinations, this review aims to narrow the focus to the most widely commercialized and studied strains, namely Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium, and to bring together the arguments for their usage in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD). Clinicians, scientists, and industrialists are critical stakeholders in exploring this groundbreaking concept.
AB - Probiotics are currently the subject of intensive research pursuits and also represent a multi-billion-dollar global industry given their vast potential to improve human health. In addition, mental health represents a key domain of healthcare, which currently has limited, adverse-effect prone treatment options, and probiotics may hold the potential to be a novel, customizable treatment for depression. Clinical depression is a common, potentially debilitating condition that may be amenable to a precision psychiatry-based approach utilizing probiotics. Although our understanding has not yet reached a sufficient level, this could be a therapeutic approach that can be tailored for specific individuals with their own unique set of characteristics and health issues. Scientifically, the use of probiotics as a treatment for depression has a valid basis rooted in the microbiota-gut-brain axis (MGBA) mechanisms, which play a role in the pathophysiology of depression. In theory, probiotics appear to be ideal as adjunct therapeutics for major depressive disorder (MDD) and as stand-alone therapeutics for mild MDD and may potentially revolutionize the treatment of depressive disorders. Although there is a wide range of probiotics and an almost limitless range of therapeutic combinations, this review aims to narrow the focus to the most widely commercialized and studied strains, namely Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium, and to bring together the arguments for their usage in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD). Clinicians, scientists, and industrialists are critical stakeholders in exploring this groundbreaking concept.
KW - depression
KW - gut microbes
KW - major depressive disorder
KW - precision
KW - probiotics
KW - psychiatry
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85151107864&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/nu15061382
DO - 10.3390/nu15061382
M3 - Review Article
C2 - 36986112
AN - SCOPUS:85151107864
SN - 2072-6643
VL - 15
JO - Nutrients
JF - Nutrients
IS - 6
M1 - 1382
ER -