Journal
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF NEUROPSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY
Volume 24, Issue 3, Pages 216-220Publisher
OXFORD UNIV PRESS
DOI: 10.1093/ijnp/pyaa088
Keywords
Microbiota-gut-brain axis; psychotropics; microbiome
Funding
- Science Foundation Ireland [SFI/12/RC/2273_P2]
- Saks Kavanaugh Foundation
- EU [DLV-848228]
- Swiss National Science Foundation [CRSII5_186346/NMS2068]
- 4D Pharma
- Cremo
- Dupont
- Mead Johnson
- Nutricia
- Pharmavite
- Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF) [CRSII5_186346] Funding Source: Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF)
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Recent studies increasingly suggest that the microbiome plays a role in mental health disorders. One study found that antipsychotics can reduce microbiome diversity in patients. The health consequences of these microbiome alterations require further investigation.
There is increasing evidence for the role of the microbiome in various mental health disorders. Moreover, there has been a growing understanding of the importance of the microbiome in mediating both the efficacy and side effects of various medications, including psychotropics. In this issue, Tomizawa and colleagues report on the effect of psychotropic drugs on the gut microbiome of 40 patients with depression and/or anxiety disorders. In their longitudinal cohort, the authors find that antipsychotics, but not anxiolytics, decrease microbiome alpha diversity. They further find that antipsychotics dosage was negatively correlated with alpha diversity in these patients. The health consequences of these microbiome alterations remain to be fully understood. In this commentary, we will discuss such findings through the lens of several recent studies on the microbiota-gut-brain axis. We also use the paper as a backdrop to discuss directionality and, by extension, causality in relation to microbiota-gut-brain-brain signaling.
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